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AGNES. 



DAUGHTER OF 



William the Baptist; 



THE YOUNG THEOLOGIAN. 



BY 

Rev. J. M. CHANEY, D. D. 



s^wS 



JIM 26 






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ISichmonfi, 13a*: 

Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 
1894. 



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THE LIBRARY] 

[OF C QNGI tBgg J 

[WASRlMOTOyj 



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Copyrighted 

BY 

J AS. K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication, 

1894. 



Printed by 

Whittet & Shepperson, 

Richmond, Va. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

CHAPTER I., 5 

CHAPTER II., 13 

CHAPTER HI., 27 

CHAPTER IV., . . . . .. .32 

CHAPTER V., ...... 42 

CHAPTER VI., 51 

CHAPTER VII., 70 

CHAPTER VOX, .... . 81 

CHAPTER IX., ...... 96 

CHAPTER X., .103 

CHAPTER XL, . . . . . .115 

3 



AGNES, 



DAUGHTER OF 



William the Baptist. 



CHAPTEE I. 

IT has been asked, What becomes of all the 
very smart and good little children of whom 
we read in Sunday-school books? Such a 
question is sneeringly asked, implying that all 
such are too smart and too good to live in this 
world, and, therefore, all die in early child- 
hood. 

But children may be very smart and very 
good, and yet live to be old men and old 
women. A good child is far more likely to 
live and grow up, and become strong and 
healthy, than a bad one. 

Little Agnes, a daughter of William the 
Baptist, is a very smart child, and a very good 
one, but that will not keep her from being a 
strong, healthy girl, nor will it prevent her 
from becoming a very old woman. 

5 



6 Agues, 

She was small for one of her age. When 
thirteen years old most people would have 
taken her to be about nine or ten. When 
about thirteen she expressed a desire to unite 
with the church. But she was told that she 
was too young. Besides, she did not seem 
to be very seriously inclined. In disposition 
she was frolicsome and full of fun, and her 
brothers said full of mischief. She was very 
obedient, and everyone thought her a good 
girl. But from her age and her fondness for 
fun her parents thought that her desire to 
unite with the church was a childish whim. 
But they were mistaken. For some weeks 
after she had been told that she was too young 
to unite with the church, as her mother after- 
wards told me, she seemed to be unusually 
quiet, and often seemed to be meditating, as 
if in trouble. When asked if anything trou- 
bled her, she would answer, No! and at once 
become as light-hearted as ever. 

As I passed their house one evening she 
was in the yard, alone, carelessly knocking 
croquet balls through the arches. Before she 
saw me, I called to her and asked who was 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 7 

beating in the game. Looking up, she 
laughed and said, " Come in and see if I 
cannot beat you." "All right," said I, "if 
you beat me I shall think you are an expert, 
for I used to play a good game." 

The ground was smooth, but not level. At 
one of the arches the incline was consider- 
able. She was accustomed to it, and knew 
how to get the ball through ; but I made 
many ineffectual efforts. My failures afforded 
her endless amusement. The best I could do 
was to get one game in three. When the 
games were ended she was in high glee be- 
cause of her success. Almost in the midst of 
her childish glee she surprised me with the 
question, " How old do you think one ought 
to be before they become a Christian ? " 

"At that age," said I, "when they are old 
enough to be accountable for their deeds." 

"But," said she, "when is a child thus 
accountable ? " 

"When it knows the difference between 
right and wrong ; when it knows what sin is," 
said I. 

Agnes. " Then I have known that a long 



8 Agnes, 

time. Don't you think I am old enough to 
become a Christian?" 

Pastor. "Yes, child, as I said before, you 
have been old enough ever since you knew 
anything about the nature of sin. I hope you 
are a Christian now." 

A. "I hope I am. I told ma I wished to 
join the church, but she said she thought I 
had better wait until I am a little older." 

P. "You say you hope you are a Chris- 
tian ; what makes you think so ? " 

A. " The Bible says that Jesus died to save 
sinners, and that he will save all that come 
to him. A long time ago, before I went to 
school, I went to him, and asked him to save 
me." 

P. " Do you think you have been a Chris- 
tian ever since ? " 

A. " Yes, I know that I love him, and love 
to read about him in his word, and love to 
pray to him." 

P. "Well, Agnes, I am surprised and 
pleased to hear all this from you. Not only 
do I think you are old enough to be a Chris- 
tian, but you are old enough to enjoy all 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 9 

the privileges of the church. You were old 
enough to go to the Lord's table when you 
first went to Jesus, even if you were not 
more than five years old. Children should 
not be persuaded to join the church before 
they know what they are doing. Paul says 
that those who go to the Lord's table some- 
times eat unworthily, c not discerning the 
Lord's body.' Do you know what that 
means? " 

A. " I think I do. I heard you explain 
it. We must not think that doing that will 
save us, but we must do it to show that we 
believe in Christ, and that we take him as 
our Saviour." 

P. " When you saw others celebrating the 
Lord's Supper how did you feel?" 

A. " When the bread and wine were passed 
around I wished that I could take them also. 
I felt sure he was my Saviour, and I wished 
to take them to show my love for him." 

P. "You say you love to read his word. 
Do you mean that you love Bible stories, 
such as that about Joseph, or Samuel, and 
such like?" 



10 Agnes, 

A. "Oh, no! mother read them to me be- 
fore I learned to read. I love to read some 
of the Psalms, and the New Testament." 

P. "Are there any portions of the New 
Testament in which you take special de^ 
light ? " 

A. " There are so many that I can hardly 
say which. The fourteenth chapter of John, 
and the fifth chapter of Romans I loved so 
much that I committed them to memory." 

P. "I am delighted to find that my frolic- 
some little girl is so seriously inclined." 

A. "I do love fun, and I love to laugh. 
But do you think there is any harm in these ? 
Mr. B., when he preached for you last winter, 
said that Jesus wept, but never laughed. I 
don't believe it, and I would like to know why 
he said it." 

P. " I remember that he said it, and I 
asked him why he made such a statement. 
His reply was, that the Bible tells us that he 
wept, but there is no intimation that he ever 
laughed. And he said, further, that when he 
was twelve years old, when he went up to the 
feast at Jerusalem and had remained after his 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 11 

parents had gone, so that they had to return 
to find him, in answer to their question why 
he had done so, he told them he must be 
about his Father's business. In this, Mr. B. 
said, he showed that he was always filled 
with a sense of the awful responsibility of his 
mission so that he never felt like laughing." 

A. "And do you believe that?" 

P. "I am sure he was a very thoughtful 
child. But I suspect that, as a child, he loved 
childish sports, and often made the walls of 
his mother's home resound with his childish 
laughter." 

A. "I am so glad to hear you say that. 
When I see my kittens playing I just think 
God intended them to be happy and to have 
lots of fun. And I think he intended that 
we should be happy and have fun. And I 
do not like to think that Jesus never laughed 
when he was a child." 

P. "Well, Agnes, I wish I could talk 
longer with you, but I should have been 
home before this. But I shall see you again. 
I shall have a talk with your parents about 
your being admitted to the Lord's table." 



12 Agnes. 

A. "You mean that yon will talk to them, 
about my joining the church?" 

P. "No, you have been a member of the 
church all your life." 

A. " Well, I never knew that before. How 
can that be? " 

P. " I will see you again, and explain it to 
you. As you have so much love for the Bible, 
and will be, I am sure, an apt pupil, I shall 
make an effort to instruct you in some of the 
doctrines of religion, as I wish you to be an 
intelligent Christian, and worthy of the name 
of ' The Young Presbyterian.' " 



CHAPTER II. 

AGNES was attending school in our female 
seminary. She was in the highest class 
in the preparatory department, and occupied 
the highest place in all her studies. The clos- 
ing exercises of the seminary occurred the 
week after my conversation with her. The 
night preceding the commencement exercises 
the young ladies gave an entertainment, chiefly 
musical, but interspersed with a few recita- 
tions. On a printed programme, I noticed that 
Agnes was down for a recitation, and the sub- 
ject, "Old Dog Bowser." I was curious to 
know what she had to recite about an old dog, 
and also how she would succeed. 

When her name was called she stepped for- 
ward, neatly dressed, and had the appearance 
of a child not more than ten years old. Her 
voice was remarkably clear and distinct, and 
every word she spoke could be distinctly heard 
by all in the audience. There was a wonder- 
ful naturalness in her method of reciting. Sher 

13 



14 Agnes, 

did not seem to be repeating something she 
had learned in a book, but to be telling some- 
thing that had come under her own personal 
observation. She said that away out in the 
Kentucky hills lived the good widow Bascom. 
She had no education, but loved her Bible, her 
church, and her dear pastor. Her pastor was 
a good man, and desired to do good, but was 
illiterate. His tones in preaching were sing- 
song, and to make an impression on his hear- 
ers seemed to depend more on sound than on 
sense. But he generally succeeded in making 
his hearers weep, and none wept more freely 
under his preaching than the good widow. She 
had four sons, all excellent boys, and all devot- 
ed to their mother. But Bob, the youngest, a 
bright, promising lad of sixteen years, could 
get no instruction from the sermons of his mo- 
ther's dear pastor. Whether wisely or other- 
wise, he communicated this fact to his mother. 
The good woman was shocked and troubled to 
hear such a statement from her boy. She tried 
to reason with him, but without success. As a 
last argument, she told him that she could not 
listen, to her dear pastor without weeping. 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 15 

"Yes," said Bob, "and I could make you 
weep in the same way, by simply repeating 
such nonsense as, 'O! dear mother, old dog 
Bowser went down into the field and caught a 
chipmunk.' " 

The mother was bewildered; she knew not 
what to do. At last, to convince him of his 
folly, she told him to try. Her purpose was to 
ridicule his effort in attempting to do such a 
foolish thing. 

So he began. He repeated over and over, 
"0! dear mother, old dog Bowser went down 
into the field and caught a chipmunk." He 
imitated the tones of her pastor; he became 
more and more affected ; in a most doleful 
manner he repeated it with tears and sobbing ; 
and at last his mother became visibly affected, 
and wept as she was wont to do in church. 
Then suddenly Bob stopped, and said, "Ah! 
mother, I told you I could make you weep!" 
The only excuse made by the mother was, "O! 
my son, your tones were so heavenly!" 

The recitation was perfect. It was received 
with rounds of applause. Agnes was encored. 
For this she was not prepared. At last the 



16 Agnes, 

teacher told her to go forward and make a po- 
lite bow to the audience. She went forward, 
and in a most inimitable and affecting manner, 
when death-like stillness reigned, said, "Jesus 
said, Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the king- 
dom of God." 

The audience was affected by this as strongly 
as by the other recitation, but in a very differ- 
ent manner. Many were seen to wipe the tears 
that were stealing down their cheeks. 

The next evening, when I called to see her, 
I told Agnes that I had been greatly pleased 
and profited by both her recitations. 

"The first recitation," said I, "reminded me 
of the fact that children are often religiously 
affected by preaching which, if not just like 
that of which you spoke, yet is, in reality, no 
better. The preacher tells thrilling stories that 
make the people weep, and yet what he says is 
entirely destitute of anything that will instruct 
them about Jesus and salvation through him. 
Often when children are deeply affected by 
such pathetic stories, they are invited to join 
the church ; and under the excitement, they are 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 17 

led to do so. Do you know that religion con- 
sists of something more than mere feeling?" 

A. "I remember that you preached on the 
text, 'This is eternal life, that they may know 
thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
thou hast sent.' You said that knowledge is 
essential to salvation. And I remember that 
you said that we must have religious feeling, 
but that no feeling is religious unless it is ex- 
cited or produced by religious knowledge. 
When you first said that religion does not con- 
sist in feeling, I did not like it, because I 
thought you meant that feeling was all put on. 
But I know that old Mrs. "Weaver is a good 
Christian, and often she gets to shouting, and 
says she is so happy." 

P. "Yes, to read or hear what Jesus did 
for us, and what he promises, should make us 
very happy, even to the point of shouting. But 
it is also true that grown people, and especially 
children, can have a great deal of feeling that 
has no religion in it, just like Mrs. Bascom, 
who was made to weep by the heavenly tones 
of her son Bob. 

"But I called to talk with you this evening 



18 Agnes, 

about a question you asked me at the close of 
our conversation last week. Do you remember 
what it was?" 

A. ' Yes, sir, very well. You said I had 
been a member of the church all my life. I 
suppose you mean that I became a member 
when I was baptized in my infancy." 

P. "Not exactly; I meant just what I said. 
Perhaps you are too young to understand it ; 
but I will explain it in as simple a manner as 
possible. When our race fell, and came under 
condemnation because of the sin of Adam, God 
entered into a bargain, or, as we call it, a cove- 
nant, promising to save all who would trust in 
the Redeemer he promised. This covenant 
was repeated very clearly to Abraham. In it 
he says that he will be a God to all who will 
believe. But he said more. He said, 'I will 
be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee.' 
We believe that Peter referred to this promise 
when he said, Acts ii. 39, c For the promise is 
unto you and to your children.' Now, this pro- 
mise to the children of believers is not abso- 
lutely a promise of their salvation, bat a pro- 
mise that they should belong to what was called, 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 19 

in the Old Testament, c the congregation/ or the 
people of Israel. And under the New Testa- 
ment, the children of believers belong to the 
same congregation, or, as we call it, the church 
of God. In Genesis xvii. 14, you will see that 
God says that if a child was not circumcised it 
should be 'cut off from his people.' But it 
could not be cut off from something to which 
it did not belong. Therefore, it belonged to 
' the people ,V his people ,' before it was circum- 
cised ; and it was to be circumcised because it 
belonged to ' his people.' Just so we believe 
that the children of Christian parents belong 
to the church, and for this reason we believe 
they should be baptized." 

A. "Do you think that a child will be saved 
because its parents are Christians?" 

P. "Not at all. Paul shows this in the se- 
cond chapter of Romans. He there shows that 
the mere fact that a man was a Jew by birth 
would not secure his salvation. Then, in the 
third chapter, he represents some objector as. 
asking, Well, then, if they are not certainly 
saved, what benefit is there in being born 
members of the church, and in being circum- 



20 Agnes, 

cised? He answers this in the second verse, 
and the substance of his answer is, It is very 
beneficial, because it places them in a condi- 
tion very favorable to their salvation." 

A. "I thought I heard you say once, in a 
sermon, that you believed all baptized chil- 
dren would be saved," 

P. "1 am sorry I said anything to make 
such a false impression on your mind, for I 
do not believe anything of the kind. "What I 
do believe, and what I said, is this: That 
every child will be accepted and saved that 
is consecrated to God as he has directed. Let 
me try to make this plain to you. God says 
to a man, if you believe on Jesus I will be 
your God, and you shall be saved. If the 
man has a child, God further says to him, I 
will enter into covenant with you in reference 
to your child also if you so desire, and I will 
be a God to it. If the parent desires thus to 
enter into covenant with God in reference to 
his child, he tells God so, and solemnly con- 
secrates it to God, and promises to use all 
proper means to bring it up for God. This 
he does when he answers the questions which 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 21 

the minister asks him when the child is pre- 
sented to be dedicated to God. After this 
has been done then the child is baptized. 
According to what I have said, how many 
things are there in the consecration of a 
child?" 

A. "Two. First, the parents are to enter 
into covenant with God in reference to the child 
and give it to him. Then it is to be bap- 
tized." 

P. "And which of these do you think is 
the more important?" 

A. "I should think the first." 

P. "You are right. If either is to be 
omitted let it be the baptism. To baptize a 
child when the parents do not heartily enter 
into covenant with God in reference to it is but 
a mockery. But if the parents do thus intel- 
ligently and heartily enter into covenant with 
God, surrendering the child to him, pleading 
his promises in reference to the child, and 
then have it baptized to seal the covenant, I 
believe the child will be as secure of salva- 
tion as the parent." 

A. "I am so glad you have explained this 



22 Agnes, 

to us, for I often wondered what good it did 
to a child to baptize it. Sometimes I almost 
wished that I had not been baptized when I 
was a babe. But now I see how thankful I 
should be that my parents were Christians, 
and that they entered into covenant with God 
in reference to me and had me baptized. 
When you were leaving last week you said 
you wished me to be an intelligent Christian, 
and said something about teaching me. I told 
mother what you said, and asked her what she 
thought you meant; and she said you meant 
just what you said." 

P. "Your mother was correct. I wished 
to make you a little theologian; but I guess 
you do not know what that means." 

A. " Preachers are theologians, and I sup- 
pose they are so called because they know so 
much about the Bible." 

P. " Well, I wish you to know something 
about all the great doctrines of the Bible ; and 
I will take pleasure in teaching you if you 
wish to learn." 

A. " I do so much wish to learn, but I am 
afraid you will find me a dull pupil." 



Daughter of William tke Baptist. 23 

P. " We are accustomed to say that some 
people have a talent for particular studies. 
So, also, does it require a special talent to be 
able to understand religious truth. What this 
talent is you can learn from Psalm xxv. 12, 14. 
Will you please read it? " 

A. " ' What man is he that feareth ? him 
shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
him ; and he will shew them his covenant.' " 

P. ''From these and other passages we 
learn that the talent necessary to understand 
the great truths God has revealed to us for our 
salvation is an earnest desire to know them. 
This I am persuaded you have. You told me 
you had committed some passages to memory. 
I would like to impress on your mind the 
importance of treasuring up in mind the words 
as well as the doctrines of the Bible. Will 
you please read Psalm cxix. 11?" 

A. "'Thy word have I hid in mine heart, 
that I might not sin against thee.' " 

P. " This implies two things : (1), The word 
must be treasured in mind; (2), It must have a 
place in the heart ; that is, we must love it. 



24 Agnes, 

"If you. will reflect a moment, you will see 
that the word is the Christian's whole stock in 
trade. Without it he cannot believe, nor pray, 
nor find comfort in trouble, nor perform any 
Christian duty. It is not enough that he has 
it in his Bible. What benefit to have all your 
knowledge of arithmetic in a book and none of 
it in your head? And so of every other kind 
of knowledge. 

" Some professing Christians are so ignorant 
of the Bible, or have so little of it in their 
memory, that it is difficult to know how they 
can be saved. Paul teaches this in 1 Corin- 
thians xv. 1, 2. Will you please read it? " 

A. " ' Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you 
the gospel which I preached unto you, which 
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand ; 
by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in 
memory what I preached unto you, unless ye 
have believed in vain.'" 

P. " Here you see Paul says we may hope 
to be saved by the gospel, if we keep it in 
memory; or, more literally, if we hold it fast. 
According to Dr. Charles Hodge this means, 
'if we hold fast the gospel,' or have persever- 



Daughter of William the .Baptist. 25 

ing faith. Dr. Thomas Chalmers says: 'It is 
not enough that we barely believe the gospel, 
for we are told on the highest authority that 
unless we 'keep it in memory' w r e have be- 
lieved in vain. 

A. " I never thought of that before. But 
I see that the Bible cannot do any good unless 
its truths are in the heart, as that verse in 
Psalm cxix. says." 

P. "Paul urges Christians to grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
It is one of the mysteries of the age how Chris- 
tians can be satisfied to live in ignorance of the 
word of God and of the precious doctrines of 
grace. An intelligent man, speaking of the 
members of a Presbyterian Church numbering 
at least two hundred and fifty, said he felt sure 
that not forty of them had any knowledge of 
the doctrines of the church. This is like Paul's 
representation of some professing Christians in 
his day. Will you please read it, in Hebrews 
v. 11-12?" 

A. " ' Of whom we have many things to say, 
and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of 
hearing. For when for the time ye ought to 



26 Agnes. 

be teachers, ye have need that one teach you 
again which be the first principles of the 
oracles of God ; and are become such as have 
need of milk, and not of strong meat." : 

P. "The one of whom he wished to tell 
them was Jesus. The difficulty of telling them 
was not in the nature of the truths to be told, 
but because of their dullness or ignorance. 
When professing Christians are so ignorant 
of the teachings of the Bible, Paul says (Eph. 
iv. 14) they are in danger of being tossed to 
and fro, and carried about with every wind of 
doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning 
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." 

A. "I am more anxious than ever to learn 
all I can about the doctrines of the Bible, if 
you will be so kind as to teach me." 

P. " I will do the best I can. In our next 
talk we shall see what we can learn about the 
condition of man as a sinner, and his need of 
a Saviour." 



CHAPTEK III. 

IN making a pastoral call, I was delighted in 
hearing an incident in reference to Agnes, 
told me by Mrs. L., at whose house it occurred. 
On the day before, she said, Agnes was at her 
house, and by chance there were three or four 
lady callers, all members of our church. One 
of them was a fashionable young married lady, 
Mrs. B., who had a child a few months old, 
and in the course of conversation remarked 
that she intended to have her child baptized 
on the following Sabbath, and described the 
beautiful dress she had prepared for it for the 
occasion. One of the ladies, Mrs. E., a mother 
of five children, remarked that she had never 
had any of her children baptized. She said 
her husband, also a member of the church, did 
not believe in infant baptism ; and for her part, 
she did not see ' what good it would do them. 
She thought that it would be better to let them 
grow up and then choose for themselves. The 

27 



28 



Ag\ 



nes. 



other ladies said they thought she did wrong; 
that she ought to have the children baptized. 
She was not pleased with being charged with 
wrong-doing, and to defend herself she de- 
manded to know what good could result from 
baptizing a little infant that had no conscious- 
ness of what was being done. The answer they 
made was, that it was a rule of the church, and 
that those who join the church ought to com- 
ply with the rules. Her reply was, that she 
had never been told that it was a rule of the 
church ; and she mentioned the names of sev- 
eral members whose children had not been 
baptized. 

Agnes was manifestly deeply interested in 
the conversation, said Mrs. L. ; and at last, 
turning to Mrs. E., she asked, "Don't you be- 
lieve that Jesus loves little children?" 

"Yes, child," said Mrs. E., "and I was so 
delighted to hear you recite that little verse, 
1 Suffer little children,' etc., when they called 
you back. It almost made me cry. I thought 
of my own little child that died, and which I 
know is in heaven; and then I thought of my 
own children that are living, that are so dear 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 29 

to me, and I wondered if Jesus really thought 
of them and loved them." 

A. "The Bible says Jesus gives them, and 
when they die, it says, he takes them away. If 
you are a Christian, he is your God; and he 
says, if you wish it, he will be a God to your 
children also, if you will enter into covenant 
with him, and consecrate your children to him." 

Mrs. E. "Where does he say that?" 

A. "Why, over in Genesis, when he called 
Abraham"; and, getting a Bible, she read it. 

Mrs. R. "But what have we to do with 
that? That is 'way over in the Old Testament, 
and refers to the Jews." 

A. "But here is what Peter said on the day 
of Pentecost : ' The promise is unto you and to 
your children.' It is the promise God made to 
Abraham to which he refers. So now God of- 
fers to make a bargain with you, that he will 
be a God to you, and to your child if you will 
consecrate it to him ; and the baptism is just to 
show that you have made the bargain with 
God in reference to your child." 

Thus Agnes preached them a little sermon. 
They all listened with amazement. Both Mrs. 



30 Agnes, 

R. and Mrs. B. were manifestly affected by 
what they had heard. 

I left the house of Mrs. L., thankful for what 
I had heard, and said to myself, "Truly, 'out 
of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou 
ordained strength, because of thine enemies, 
that thou mightest still the enemy and the 
avenger.' " I wondered what would be the re- 
sult of the little sermon. This was on Friday. 
On the following Sabbath Mrs. R. presented 
her five children for baptism, and Mrs. B. came 
forward to give hers to the Lord. I noticed 
that the child of the latter was clothed with 
very modest apparel. The beautiful and costly 
dress prepared for the occasion was left at 
home. 

The mother afterwards told me that she had 
never dreamed of the importance and solemn- 
ity of the service until she had heard it ex- 
plained by little Agnes. She said that she had 
been at great expense in having a beautiful 
dress prepared for her babe, to show it off to 
the best advantage. But when she thought 
what a mockery it would be to present her 
child as she, in her ignorance, had intended, 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 31 

she could not think of having the dress on her 
babe, lest her thoughts should thereby be dis- 
tracted. She wished, she said, to think of but 
one thing when she stood up with her babe, 
and that was, to enter into covenant with God, 
that he would be the God and Saviour of her 
child. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

AGNES, by invitation, came to the parson- 
age about 3 o'clock p. m. on Monday. I 
bad told ber tbat the subject on which we 
would talk would be man's condition as a sin- 
ner. But, on reflection, I concluded first to 
have a talk with her on the authority of the 
Bible. When this purpose was made known 
to her she expressed her pleasure, because, as 
she said, she had seen so much in the papers 
about the errors of the Bible. With surprising 
earnestness she said, "If the Bible is the word 
of God, I do not see how it can have errors; 
and if it has errors, I do not see how it can be 
the word of God." 

"You reason like a logician," said I, "but 
there is no middle ground. Either the Bible 
is inspired, and is the word of God, or it is not. 
It is not my purpose to consider the matter in 
an argumentative manner, but to tell you, in as 
simple a manner as possible, my own views on 
32 



Daughter' of William the Baptist. 33 

the subject, which also are views of our church. 
Will you read Second Timothy iii. 16-17?" 

A. " 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 
that the man of God may be perfect, thor- 
oughly furnished unto all good works.' " 

P. "When Paul wrote this, the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures were well known to the Jewish 
nation, and used by them. All of them had 
been translated into Greek, and thus they had 
them both in the Hebrew and Greek languages. 
From the statement of Paul.it is certain that 
he regarded the book which we call the Old 
Testament as inspired. Will you read Second 
Peter i. 21?" 

A. ' "For the prophecy came not in old time 
by the will of man : but holy men of God spake 
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' " 

P. "Here Peter is speaking of that same 
Old Testament, and from his language it is 
very certain that he regarded it as trr.ly the 
word of God. Both Paul and Peter were in- 
spired in what they wrote. Therefore, we be- 
lieve that the Bible is the word of God " 
3 



34 Agnes, 

A. "Did not Jesus teach us that the Old 
Testament was the word of God?" 

P. "Yes; he used it, and quoted from it, 
and gave it his sanction as the word of God ; 
and I would have you note carefully that Jesus 
gave his special sanction to one of the books 
which some tell us cannot be a part of the 
word of God. I refer to the Book of Jonah. 
Jesus spoke of the story of Jonah and the 
whale as a reality. Then, either it was true, 
or Jesus was mistaken. But no one, unless an 
infidel, could believe the latter." 

A. "In our Sunday-school class some one 
asked whether the writings of the apostles are 
as binding as the statements of Jesus." 

P. "And what conclusion was reached?" 

A. "Some thought they were, and some 
thought not." 

P. "And what do you think? " 

A. "I think that if their writings are the 
inspired word of God, they must be equal to 
the words of Jesus." 

P. "Your conclusion is correct. A pre- 
tended friend of the Bible undertook to prove 
from the Bible that women may speak in pub- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 35 

lie, and preach. She began by saying, 'Not 
Paul, but Jesus, is to be the authority in de- 
ciding this question.' What do you think of 
that?" 

A. "She did not think that Paul was in- 
spired, or else she had a very silly theory of 
inspiration." 

P. "As a Christian you should always hold 
to this truth, that the Bible, as the word of 
God, is the final authority on all questions of 
which it treats. It is of special importance to 
keep this in mind when reaching conclusions 
that have a moral nature, such, for example, 
as the temperance question. There is danger 
of getting wise above the Bible, and of reach- 
ing conclusions that would necessitate the con- 
demnation of Jesus himself. 

"Shall we now proceed to consider the ques- 
tion of man's fallen nature, or wait till another 
time?" 

A. "Oh! go on, unless you prefer to wait." 

P. "What do you say of the moral condi- 
tion of infants?" 

A. "I do not know what to say, so I guess 
I will not say anything." 



36 Agnes, 

P. " That is correct. You have no right to 
say anything, nor to have a thought on the 
question, unless you get your opinions directly 
from the Bible. The one great difficulty with 
many persons is that they insist on having an 
opinion of their own on questions which can 
be decided only by the word of God. You. of 
yourself, know nothing about the soul of an 
infant, whether it be sinful or holy." 

A. "From what I can see I would say it is 
not sinful." 

P. "But sometimes appearances are deceiv- 
ing. It is said that tiger whelps, when quite 
young, are as harmless and playful as little 
kittens. But what would you say in reference 
to the nature of those little animals that seem 
so innocent and harmless? " 

A. " That bad nature is in them, and will 
show itself when they grow up." 

P. " Then, I suppose, you would say that 
fierceness of disposition is in the young tiger 
in an undeveloped state." 

A. "Yes, sir, it is there, and will show itself 
when it gets older." 

P. " That is our belief in reference to hu- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 37 

man beings. We believe that sinfulness is in 
the nature of the infant, and that it will cer- 
tainly manifest itself when the child grows 
older. There are four things I wish you to 
learn on this subject: 

11 1. The fact of the sinfulness. 

"2. The nature of it. 

" 3. Whence it comes. 

"4. The extent of it. 

"It will be well for you to have a few pas- 
sages of Scripture bearing on each one of 
these : 1st, The fact of the sinfulness. Will 
you read Psalm li. 5 ; and the latter part of 
Ephesians ii. 3?" 

A. " ' Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and 
in sin did my mother conceive me.' 'And 
were by nature the children of wrath, even as 
others.' " 

P. "Both of these passages refer to the 
moral condition of man in infancy, and they 
teach that our nature is depraved and sinful. 

" 2. The second fact is the nature of the 
depraved condition. But this subject is what 
the apostle calls strong meat, especially for 
one so young as you, but I hope to be able 



38 Agnes ) 

to make you understand it. Can you see any 
difference between sinful and sinner f " 

A. " I believe I can. I suppose you mean 
that little infants are sinful, or have wicked 
natures, but they are not sinners, or do not 
commit sin, until they get old enough to know 
right and wrong." 

P. "You have the distinction between the 
two words, but you get astray in applying it. 
Our belief is, that infants are both sinful and 
sinners. The best way to enable you to see 
that they are sinners is to consider it in con- 
nection with the third topic, that is — 

"3. Whence is it that we become sinners? 
Will you read Romans v. 12 ? " 

A, " ' Wherefore, as by one man sin entered 
into the world, and death by sin ; and so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' " 

P. " In the margin of your Bible, do you 
see another translation of the last phrase? " 

A. "Yes, sir; instead of 'for all have 
sinned,' it is 'in whom all have sinned.'' 

P. " The latter is a better translation. Ac- 
cording to both translations all, including in- 
fants, have sinned. But the latter (as in the 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 39 

Greek) tells how or when all have sinned ; that 
is, we sinned in Adam, "Will you read the 
first clauses of the eighteenth and nineteenth 
verses ? " 

A. "' Therefore, as by the offence of one 
judgment came upon all men to condemna- 
tion.' 'For as by one man's disobedience 
many were made sinners.'" 

P. "Who is the 'one' that is here spoken 
of? " 

A. "It is Adam." 

P. " Our belief is, that, according to the 
purpose of God, Adam was the representative 
of all his posterity ; and therefore his sin was 
imputed or charged to all his natural descend- 
ants, so that in the sight of God all are sin- 
ners. Again, when Adam sinned, his moral 
nature became corrupt, wicked, sinful, and 
as his descendants we inherit that nature; 
and thus we are both sinners and sinful" 

A. "I think I understand it. And that is 
the reason why the little ones suffer so much, 
and why so many of them die. But don't you 
think God saves all the little children that 
die ? " 



40 Agnes, 

P, "We are not ready for this question 
yet. But I will say that, in my opinion, all 
who die in infancy are saved. But the fact 
that they suffer and die clearly shows that they 
are sinful. 

"4. The fourth topic is the extent of the sin- 
fulness. We believe in the doctrine, as it is 
called by some, of total depravity. But this 
will need some explanation to enable you to 
understand it." 

A. "I know that total means entirely, or 
altogether. And, I suppose, that total de- 
pravity means that all men are as depraved 
or wicked as they can be." 

P. " That is the meaning that our enemies 
put on the expression, but that is not our 
meaning at all. We do not believe that any 
man in the world is as wicked as he can be. 
We do not believe that any, in this world, ever 
go to that extent in wickedness. We believe 
that God's Spirit strives with all men, and 
because of this all are more or less restrained 
and kept from becoming as wicked as they 
otherwise might be. But we believe that, 
apart from this grace of God, every creature 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 41 

would be capable of going to the farthest de- 
gree of wickedness, and of committing every 
imaginable kind of sin." 

A. " I see it. But I never did understand 
that before. I believe it is true." 

P. "I will ask you to read only one pas- 
sage bearing on this point, although many are 
found that teach this truth. Will you read 
Romans vii. 18, the first clause?" 

A. "Tor I know that in me (that is, in my 
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.' " 

P. " By 'flesh' here Paul means his sinful 
nature, apart from the grace of God. 

"We have thus gone over the doctrine of 
man's condition as a sinner. It would be well 
for you to continue the examination of the 
subject by the aid of your reference Bible. 
By the few passages we have given you, you 
can readily find others of the same kind, and 
can thus see how clearly and abundantly the 
Bible sets forth our condition. 

" Our next effort will be to show you some 
of the needs of man, as a sinner ; and some 
of the obstacles in the way of his salvation." 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE daily papers contained accounts of a 
railroad disaster by which many persons, 
men, women, and children, lost their lives. A 
place had been selected where, by loosening 
some rails, the whole train was thrown down a 
steep embankment. The object was robbery. 
Agnes had read a detailed account of the dis- 
aster in the evening papers just before I made 
my promised visit. Upon seeing me she said, 
"It seems to me that such a crime would make 
any one believe in the total depravity of some 
people. How can men become so wicked, and 
commit such awful deeds?" 

"Ah! my child," said I, "those men are no 
better specimens of total depravity than we are. 
We know nothing of their history and early 
training. I am very sure that I am indebted 
to the grace of God for being kept from such 
wickedness. If I had been surrounded by evil 
influences, as they were, and as destitute of 
God's restraining grace as they, I would have 

42 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 43 

been no better. I think it was John Newton 
who, seeing a poor drunkard lying in the gut- 
ter, said, 'There lies John Newton, except for 
the grace of God.' Remember that total de- 
pravity does not mean that men are as wicked 
as they can be, but that, apart from the grace 
of God, they are entirely destitute of moral 
good, and capable of any degree of wickedness. 

"But tell me, Agnes, what do you think of 
the work necessary to prepare such creatures 
for heaven ? " 

A. "Do you think it possible for such men 
as those train-robbers ever to go to heaven?" 

P. "Your excitement from having just read 
the account of their awful deed leads you to 
ask such a question. But, nevertheless, it 
serves a good purpose in directing your atten- 
tion to the difficult nature of the work of sav- 
ing a sinner." 

A. "It would be a difficult work to save 
such sinners." 

P. "No more difficult than it was to save 
Paul ; no more difficult than to save any other 
sinner. But that is the subject for our talk 
this evening. I would like for you to under- 



44 • Agnes, 

stand some of the difficulties in the way of the 
salvation of any one. By such knowledge we 
shall be prepared to appreciate the greatness 
of our salvation through Jesus, and to praise 
him for his wonderful work in saving us. 

"Will you please read Genesis ii. 17?" 

A. "'But of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For 
in the day that thou eabest thereof thou shalt 
surely die.' " 

P. "From what we learned in Romans v. 
12, who, do you think, are included in the 
threatening here made?" 

A. "I suppose the whole race." 

P. "Yes, it was man, as such, including 
Adam and all his natural descendants. By 
'death' is meant not simply nor chiefly the 
separation of the soul and body, but it includes 
every kind of evil, and especially the separa- 
tion of the soul from God. So far as finite 
creatures, such as we are, could see, that death 
would be eternal, for these reasons : 

" 1. Man could not bring himself out of that 
estate of death. 

"2. It would not be possible for another, 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 45 

such as an angel, to take man's place, for that 
would not be man dying, but some one of another 
race. But the threatening was 'thou,' man. 

"So far as we can see, God's veracity, his 
truthfulness, was at stake. If God continued 
true to his word, death had to be the portion 
of the race. These difficulties, which seemed 
immovable, must be removed before man could 
be delivered from condemnation. 

"3. But if that which seemed impossible 
were possible, yet another difficulty would pre- 
sent itself, forever keeping man out of heaven : 
his nature is corrupt, unholy. Will you read 
Bomans viii. 7-8?" 

A. " 'Because the carnal mind is enmity 
against God ; for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be: so then they 
that are in the flesh cannot please God.' " 

P. "With such a nature, heaven would be 
a hell to man. Thus you see there is a neces- 
sity for two deliverances : (1), From condemna- 
tion, that is, the guilt of sin ; and (2), From the 
corruption of sin; both of which seemed im- 
possible. Do you think you have understood 
what I have been telling you?" 



46 Agnes, 

A. "I think I have; but I never thought of 
it before. I never thought about the truth of 
God being in the way of his forgiving man. I 
thought he could forgive us just as easily as 
our father or mother can. I was over at Mrs. 
Warren's the other day, and little Johnnie was 
playing with his ball in the house. He threw 
it against the window, and almost broke the 
glass. His mother scolded him, and said, ' Did 
not I tell you to quit playing in the house with 
your ball? Now, if I catch you playing with 
that ball in the house again, I will switch you ; 
do you hear me ? ' Johnnie went out-of-doors 
and played a w T hile. Then he came inside and 
began throwing his ball up to the ceiling. His 
mother did not say anything ; perhaps she did 
not see him. Presently the ball struck the nice 
shade of the hanging lamp, and the pieces flew 
all over the floor. I tell you his mother was 
mad. She scolded him like everything, and 
told him to go out and get her a switch. John- 
nie went and got a good, big one, but came in 
crying, and telling his mother how sorry he 
was, and promised that he would never play 
ball in the house again. When his mother saw 



Daughter of Willia?n the Baptist. 47 

him crying so, she was sorry for him, and took 
him in her lap and petted him, and told him 
that she would forgive him this time, but that 
he must not disobey in that way again." 

P. "Yes, Agnes, parents often thus lie to 
their children, and the children soon find it 
out. But God does not, and cannot lie. He 
always does just as he promises, and just as he 
threatens. I will tell you a little story, and I 
know that it is true: Mrs. Smith had a little 
girl named Hattie. She was a good child, but 
was thoughtless. One day, after it had rained 
and the street was very muddy, little Hattie 
went across the street to play with a little girl, 
and got her dress very muddy. Her mother 
put on her some clean clothes, and told her, if 
she went again in the mud, she would certainly 
switch her. About an hour afterwards, the 
same little friend called to Hattie to come 
over. The mother happened to look through 
the window, and saw her little daughter almost 
across the forbidden road. She called little 
Hattie back, and sent her for a switch. When 
this was brought, the mother talked to Hattie, 
and told her how naughty it was for little chil- 



48 Agnes, 

dren not to obey their parents. She also told 
her how very much she disliked to punish her 
dear little girl, but that she must do as she had 
said she would do. Little Hattie was very so- 
ber, and said, ' Ma, before you whip me, let us 
pray, and you ask God to make me a good 
little girl.' Her mother then knelt down and 
prayed, just as Hattie had suggested. When 
they got off their knees both were crying, but 
in her tears the mother administered the 
threatened chastisement." 

A. "I don't see how she could whip then." 

P. "You think she ought to have told her 
a story, like Mrs. Warren, do you?" 

A. "Well, I suppose Mrs. Smith did right; 
but I guess most mothers would not have done 
that way." 

P. "This will, in some measure, illustrate 
to you one of the great obstacles in the way of 
God pardoning sin. His justice and his truth 
both seemed to make it impossible for the sin- 
ner to escape, or for God to forgive. A great 
difficulty was to see how God could be true, 
and jet forgive the sinner. Paul refers to this 
in Romans iii. 26. Will you please read it?" 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 49 

A. " 'To declare at this time his righteous- 
ness; that he might be just, and the justifier of 
him that believeth in Jesus.' I begin to see 
how difficult it was to forgive the sinner. But 
God does forgive sinners now, and I do not 
see how he can, when he said they must die if 
they sinned ; and they did sin. Then, after all, 
does he not do just as Mrs. Warren did with 
little Johnnie?" 

P. "That will be the subject of our next 
talk. But I wish you to remember that the 
truth of God was in the way of his showing 
mercy to sinning man ; also, that the righteous- 
ness or justice of God stood in the way of our 
peace. These things were so opposed to each 
other that it seemed impossible that they could 
be reconciled. But that seemingly impossible 
thing was accomplished. How it was done, we 
shall inquire in our next lesson. But will you 
now read Psalm lxxxv. 10?" 

A. " 'Mercy and truth are met together; 
righteousness and peace have hissed each 
other: " 

P. "Here the psalmist declares that the 
truth of God and his mercy are no longer op- 



50 Agnes. 

posed ; and now his righteousness is no longer 
in the way of our peace. These, which were 
opposed, are now completely reconciled; and 
to show the reconciliation, they are represented 
as having exchanged the kiss of friendship." 

A. "Well, that is beautiful; but I do not 
see how it could be done." 



CHAPTER VI. 

AT our next interview I found Agnes greatly 
disturbed in mind. As soon as I had 
shaken hands with her, she said, almost in the 
tones of upbraiding, "I always thought it was 
easy for God to forgive sin, and to give us 
salvation. But when you told me of the diffi- 
culties in the way, and especially that his 
truthfulness made it necessary for him to pun- 
ish the sinner, that is, the one that sinned, I 
just said that, after all, God had to do some- 
thing very much like Mrs. Warren did about 
Johnnie. At least, he did not punish the one 
threatened. Instead of that, he punished one 
that was entirely innocent, and had not sinned. 
This was not doing as he threatened. And 
now I don't see how God can be just, when he 
punishes some one else instead of the sinner." 
To this I replied : "I am very sorry that 
you are troubled, yet I am glad you can see 
those difficulties in all their force. No one 
can understand God's plan of saving sinners, 

51 



52 Agnes, 

unless lie can see something of the difficulties 
that were to be removed. There are two mis- 
takes men make : 

"1. Some say there were no difficulties in 
the way; that all that God had to do to save 
sinners, if he wished to save them, was just to 
save them — to forgive them like Mrs. Warren 
forgave little Johnnie. 

" 2. The other mistake is in supposing that 
God punished some one different from man. 

"Both these are mistakes. The first, as 
you have seen, would make God a liar. The 
second is no better, because God did not say, 
in the threatening, ' either you shall die or 
some one in your stead] but he said 'thou, 
man, shalt surely die.' " 

A. " That is what troubles me. According 
to the gospel another died instead of man, and 
thus man escapes." 

P. "No, it was not another, instead of, and 
different from man, that died, but it was man 
himself, precisely according to the threatening. 
Here is the great mystery so difficult to un- 
derstand until God revealed it to us ; the mys- 
tery of God manifest in the flesh. The Saviour 



Daughter of William the Baptist. oo 

was, indeed, God, coequal and coeternal with 
the Father, but he was also a true, genuine 
man, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh ; 
descended from Adam, and as really a man as 
any of us. In both Matthew and Luke his 
genealogy is traced back to Adam to show that 
he was truly descended from him, and thus 
one of us. 

"As I explained to you, the threatening was 
not against Adam as an individual, but against 
him as a man. It was against humanity, or the 
human race. 

" Our Redeemer has but one person, yet he 
has two natures. He is truly God, and truly 
man. In the first chapter of Hebrews, Paul 
establishes his perfect divinity; then, in the 
second chapter, he shows his perfect humanity. 
Because of the manner of his generation he 
was not sinful, yet perfectly human. Paul 
says in Galatians iv. 4: 'God sent forth his 
Son, made of a woman, made under the law.' 
He is called the second Adam, or the second 
man, because Ke was a human creature and 
under the law. 

"Let us now go back to the time of the 



54 Agues, 

creation of man. Although not expressed, yet 
this is clearly implied, that God said two 
things to man: 

" 1. Obey, and thou shalt live. 

" 2. If you do not obey, you shall die. 

" Remember, this was the promise and the 
threatening to man; and they apply as much 
to Jesus as to Adam." 

A. "But God said if man did not obey 
he should die. He did not say he would give 
him another chance to obey." 

P. "Now I see your difficulty. I am glad 
you made that statement. I think I can make 
it plain to you. You do not take in all that is 
included in obedience. The very idea of law 
includes two things : 

" 1. It requires obedience, positively, directly. 

" 2. It includes a penalty, contingently; that 
is, in case the law is violated. 

"Now let us suppose a case. Our State law 
says a man shall not shoot quails between the 
first of January and the first of October. There 
is a penalty of five dollars for the violation 
of this law. Now, in how many ways may a 
man comply with this law? " 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 55 

A. "I think in two ways : 

" 1. By not shooting a quail in % the time 
mentioned. 

" 2. By paying the penalty if he does." 

P. "That is correct. I think you can un- 
derstand it, and I will explain it further. The 
word righteous does not mean the same as 
holy. A righteous man is one that has com- 
plied with the law; one that has conducted 
himself in such a manner as that the law can 
neither say nor do anything against him. But 
a holy man is one whose nature is holy. Now, 
give attention to a question I ask. Think care- 
fully before you answer, as it may seem some- 
what strange to you. 

" Here are two men, A. and B. Mr. A. is a 
good citizen, and has never violated any of the 
laws of the State. Mr. B. is a bad man. He 
stole a horse. The penalty which the law at- 
taches to horse-stealing is five years in the 
penitentiary. He was found guilty and sen- 
tenced according to the law. He served his 
full time in prison, was then released, and is 
now home again. Which of these men is now 
the most righteous man? " 



56 Agnes, 

A. "Well, it does seem strange. But ac- 
cording to your meaning of righteousness one 
is just as righteous as the other.'' 

P. " You are correct. I have gone over this 
to show you that obedience to the law, or con- 
formity to it, extends farther than you thought. 

"Now, suppose the threatening had been 
suffering for a million years, instead of death. 
Then, when man had sinned, would he not 
have complied with the law if he had suffered 
the million years? " 

A. "He certainly would." 

P. "Then, if man will suffer the penalty, 
whatever it is, will he not have complied with 
the law; and could God's justice require any- 
thing more?" 

A. "Let me see. There are so many things 
to keep in mind that my head gets bothered. 
When God created man, he placed him under 
the law. The law requires one of two things, 
that is, either obedience, or to suffer the penal- 
ty for disobedience. 

"Yes, I see that the law may be met or com- 
plied with in one of two ways : either by obey- 
ing it, or by suffering the punishment which it 
threatens." 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 57 

P. "As far as you have gone, it is very well. 
But, on the supposition that Jesus complied 
with the whole law, I wish you to see that it 
was man thus complying with it. Tour diffi- 
culty has been, that the law did not say, c If 
you, man, do not obey, either you, or some one 
instead of you, shall die ' ; but it said, ' You, 
man, shall die, or suffer the penalty.' Now, 
what I wish you to see is, that if Jesus suffered 
the penalty, then it was man that suffered it, 
and not some one else." 

A. "I see that if Jesus in his human nature 
is a man, and one of us, then all that he did 
was done by man, or by one of us." 

P. "Now we are prepared to consider what 
Jesus did in accomplishing our deliverance 
from the curse or penalty of the law. 

"There is one short statement of Paul in 
which the whole work of Jesus is presented to 
us in a very condensed manner. It is Romans 
x. 4. Will you read it?" 

A. " 'For Christ is the end of the law for 
righteousness to every one that believeth.' " 

P. "According to our previous statements, 
what is the end of the law?'* 



58 Agnes, 

A. "It is either obeying it, or, in case of 
transgression, suffering the penalty." 

P. "And what did I tell you is meant by 
righteousness?" 

A. "It means being just what the law re- 
quires." 

P. "Then, 'the end of the law' and ' right- 
eousness' are one and the same thing. That 
is what Christ is to those who believe on him. 

"As you said, the end of the law is either 
obeying it, or suffering its penalty. As Jesus 
was made under the law, and under the law 
that man had broken, he must meet both these 
ends ; that is, he must both obey it and suffer 
its penalty. I do not wish to bother you with 
big words, but I think it best to use some tech- 
nical terms, because they express just what we 
wish ; and I will explain them so that you can 
understand them. The terms are, ' active obe- 
dience' and ' passive obedience.' 

"Active obedience is obeying or doing what 
the law says you must do. 'Passive' means 
suffering ; and passive obedience means obedi- 
ence by suffering, or obeying the law by suffer- 
ing its penalty. Christ rendered both these 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 59 

kinds of obedience ; and I wish you to keep in 
mind the fact that both these kinds of obedi- 
ence were rendered by him in his human na- 
ture. 

"I shall first explain to you his active obedi- 
ence. 

"It is true that he obeyed during his whole 
life on earth, but his active obedience may be 
said to have been condensed in one short pe- 
riod of forty days, known as 'The Tempta- 
tion.' 

"It seems necessary that moral agents shall 
be tried or tempted, as it is only by such means 
that it can be known what they are, or what 
they might do. Thus, the first Adam was tried 
or tempted. It was necessary that the second 
Adam should be tried. Will you read the lat- 
ter clause of Hebrews iv. 15?" 

A. " 'But was in all points tempted like as 
we are, yet without sin.' " 

P. "There are three, and only three kinds 
of temptation : 

"1. To distrust God. 

"2. To trust him in a wicked, presumptuous 
manner. 



60 Agnes, 

"3. To yield to the sinful allurements of the 
world. 

" Christ endured all these kinds of tempta- 
tion. They are recorded in the first eleven 
verses of the fourth chapter of Matthew.. I 
wish you to understand them thoroughly, be- 
cause they form an important part of our Re- 
deemer's work. Will you please read the first 
verse?" 

A. " 'Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit 
into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.' ' 

P. "Did he go to that destitute place of his 
own accord?" 

A. "It says he was led there by the Spirit." 

P. "It is important to keep in mind the fact 
that he was there from duty, because it was the 
revealed will of God that he should go there, 
and that he should remain there until it was 
God's will that he should depart. Why did 
God wish him to go there?" 

A. "That he should be tempted of the 
devil." 

P. "Was it, then, an accident that he there 
met the devil, or that the devil there found 
him?" 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 61 

A. "No, it was the will of God, for the 
Spirit led him there for that very purpose." 

P. u Before you read the first temptation, I 
wish you to remember that this was a tempta- 
tion to distrust God. It was the will of God 
that Jesus should be brought into great straits. 
To this end, God in his providence brought 
him into such a condition and into such sur- 
roundings, that it was impossible for him to get 
anything to eat or drink for a period of forty 
days." 

A. "But he was divine, and fasting would 
not affect him as it would us." 

P. "In this, my child, you are mistaken, 
and have forgotten what I explained to you, 
that in both his active and passive obedience 
we are to regard his human nature alone. 
Fasting would affect him just as much as it 
would any of us. Two statements, one in the 
beginning and one at the close of Matthew's 
account of the temptation, show us how he was 
affected. In the first one it is said that he 
hungered; in the other, it is said that angels 
came and ministered unto him. This shows 
the straits to which he was reduced by the 



62 Agnes, 

fasting. It also brings before us very promi- 
nently his human nature.'' 

A. "But, Mr. C, if he is both human and 
divine, and yet one person, I do not see how 
you can thus separate his natures. When I 
think of him I cannot do that." 

P. "Will you please read John iv. 6?" 

A. "'Jesus, therefore, being wearied with 
his journey, sat thus on the well.' " 

P. "Was this weariness of both his natures, 
or of his human nature alone?" 

A. "Of course his divine nature could not 
become weary. * 

P. "Will you read John viii. 58?" 

A. " ' Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I 
say unto you, Befose Abraham was, I am.' " 

P. "Now, Abraham lived nearly two thou- 
sand years before Jesus was born. How, then, 
could Jesus have been before Abraham?" 

A. "I see, it could only have been true of 
his divine nature." 

P. "You must remember that everything 
pertaining to Jesus as the God-man is mysteri- 
ous. But if we wish to have an intelligent 
view of his work in our salvation, we must 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 63 

view him in his double nature, and in some 
measure we must distinguish between these 
natures in some of the things affirmed of him. 
Thus, it cannot be affirmed of his human na- 
ture that he is c the mighty God,' ' the everlast- 
ing Father J the one who ' was in the beginning 
with God, 9 and who 'was God' the one who 
'made all things' and many other similar 
statements. These were true of Jesus Christ, 
but they were true of his divine nature only. 

"Also, certain things affirmed of him were 
true of his human nature only, as when it is 
said that he was hungry; that he did eat ; that 
he was weary; that he wept ; that he suffered 
and died." 

A. "I see it. And so, in his temptation, we 
are to regard his human nature only." 

P. "We must do so for two reasons: First, 
divinity could not be tempted; Secondly, if it 
was his divine nature that was resisting the 
temptation, that is, that was obeying, then it 
was not man obeying, but God. But the per- 
fect obedience was required of man." 

A. "I remember that Mr. B. said, in his 
sermon at our last communion, that Jesus ren- 



64 Agnes, 

dered the obedience in his human nature, and 
his divine nature made his obedience valuable, 
so that it would have infinite value, and thus 
could be for our benefit." 

P. "I asked him where he found such an 
idea in the Bible. He said it was necessary so 
to regard it, because, if we are to regard his 
obedience as that of a man only, it could not 
avail us, because, as a man only, he would owe 
obedience for himself, that is, perfect obedi- 
ence ; but no obedience can be more than per- 
fect ; therefore, all the obedience he could ren- 
der would be that which he owed for himself, 
and, therefore, none of it could be placed to 
our credit. 

"To this, I told him that Paul, in Galatians 
iv. 4, says that Jesus was 'made of a woman, 
made under the law? and, therefore, did owe 
this perfect obedience for himself. And yet 
this same Paul, in Romans v. 19, declares that 
the obedience of Jesus does avail for us. 

"I showed him that the disobedience of one 
man had infinite demerit, so that the whole 
race came under the curse ; and further, if that 
one man had obeyed, then his obedience would 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 65 

have had infinite merit, so that all the race would 
have enjoyed the benefits of his obedience. 

"Then, why should the obedience of Jesus 
need help from divinity to render it effectual 
for us, to be imputed to us, that we might be 
regarded and treated as righteous? Do you 
not see that the obedience of Jesus in his hu- 
man nature would be as valuable or efficacious 
for us as the obedience of Adam, if he had 
obeyed?" 

A. "It does seem to me that it would; but 
I never thought of it in that light. Now I be- 
gin to see more clearly how the truthfulness of 
God is maintained in accepting the obedience 
of Jesus for us, or instead of that which we are 
required to render to God's law." 

P. "Will you now read the first tempta- 
tion?" 

A. " 'And when the tempter came to him, 
he said, If thou be the Son of God, command 
that these stones be made bread. But he an- 
swered and said, It is written, Man shall not 
live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God/ " 

P. "From this temptation it is clearly im- 



66 Agnes, 

plied that the human nature of Jesus alone 
was to be active. Divinity could take no part 
in it, else he could have supplied his wants on 
the first day of his need, or on any subsequent 
day. It was the man Jesus that was in such 
straits. He was placed there by the will of 
God, and with such surroundings that he could 
get nothing to eat or drink. He must remain 
there until it was God's will that he might de- 
part, or until God in his providence should af- 
ford him relief. Already he had been brought 
to the verge of starvation when the devil sug- 
gested to him that under such extreme circum- 
stances trust ceased to be a virtue, and sug- 
gested an extraordinary and illegitimate means 
of supplying his wants and saving his life. 
The means suggested were illegitimate, because 
he was there as a man, to trust and obey God. 
But if he called his higher nature, his divinity, 
to his aid, it would no longer be human obedi- 
ence, or the obedience of man, which the law 
required. Therefore, he rejected the sugges- 
tion of the devil, and in substance told him 
that he would continue to trust God, even 
though death by starvation should be the re- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 67 

suit. By the expression ' every word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God' is meant, 
especially, the promises of God. Thus he as- 
sured the devil that his walk would be, to the 
end, not by sight, but by faith." 

A. "It is said in that passage in Hebrews 
that he was tempted like as we are. But when 
are we tempted in that way?" 

P. "We have all been tempted in that 
way; some more sorely than others. I shall 
endeavor to make it plain to you: God pro- 
mises to care for those who trust in him. 
There are hundreds of such promises. I shall 
mention but one (Matt. vi. 33), c Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and 
all these things shall be added unto you.' But 
God in his providence sometimes permits his 
people to come into great straits. Perhaps an 
illustration will make it plainer to you: A 
young man supported his widowed mother and 
some younger sisters. He found employment 
as salesman in a large dry-goods house. His 
salary was barely sufficient to afford a com- 
fortable support. But hard times came on. 
Business was dull. His salary was lowered 



68 Agnes, 

three times. He was no longer able to sup- 
port those dependent on him. Sickness in- 
vaded his mother's household. The doctor's 
bills were to be paid. He knew not what to 
do. He did not have means to comfortably 
house, clothe, and feed his loved ones. In his 
extremity the devil suggested to him that his 
employers were rich, and were not dealing 
justly with him ; were not paying him what 
his services were worth. He could easily help 
himself from the store. It would never be 
discovered. His employers would never miss 
what he might take. Then why not, under 
such circumstances, resort to such means, 
whereby his wants could all be supplied, and 
his mother and sisters made happy ? Here, you 
see, was a case of trusting in God, or starving, 
or, at least, great suffering. Under such cir- 
cumstances a man's trust is put to the test. 
The case is analagous to that of Jesus. In 
thousands of such cases men are tempted as 
Jesus was. When God's people are tempted 
to repine at their lot ; to complain of their con- 
dition, it may be their poverty, or ill health, 
or estrangement of friends ; in all such cases 
the temptation is to distrust God. 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 69 

" There must be no limit to our trust. Like 
Job, we must say : ( Though he slay me, yet 
will I trust in him.' " 

A. "Was Adam tempted in that way? " 

P. "Trust goes under different names. 
Sometimes it is called belief. God told Adam 
he should surely die if he partook of the for- 
bidden fruit. Adam did not believe God. If 
he had confided or trusted in God it would 
have been well for him. His sin was distrust. 
But we must postpone a consideration of the 
second temptation, as you have had enough 
for one sitting." 

A. "I have been so much interested that 
I could sit all day to hear such things. I now 
can see more and more how God can be just, 
and yet justify sinners that believe on Jesus." 



CHAPTEK vil 

AGNES had a friend, Florence G., about 
two years older than herself, to whom 
she communicated what she was doing in the 
way of studying theology. She told Florence 
what she had learned about the baptism of 
infants, and about man's condition as a sinner, 
and the difficulties in the way of his salvation. 
Florence expressed a wish to become pupil 
number two. When Agnes told me of her 
desire I readily consented, as I felt sure she 
would be an apt learner, and in their private 
conversations on the subject they would be a 
mutual help to each other. At the time ap- 
pointed both were present, and each the pic- 
ture of expectancy. 

My first work was to question Agnes on 
the subject of our last conversation, partly to 
ascertain how well she had understood and 
remembered it, and partly for the benefit of 
our new pupil, that she might the more readily 
be prepared for the consideration of the second 

70 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 71 

temptation. The examination of Agnes was 
very satisfactory, and I told her she was a 
genuine theologian. 

"And now," said I, "give attention, and 
note that the second temptation was the op- 
posite of the first. Whereas the first was a 
temptation to distrust God, the second was a 
temptation to trust him in a presumptuous and 
unwarranted manner. God's promises of help 
are made to man only in his time of need — in 
his extremities. He made us rational, intelli- 
gent beings, and expects us to use the powers 
he has given us. He does not promise help 
when and where we can help ourselves. The 
devil understood this, and shows his great 
cunning in this second temptation. He seems 
to have reasoned in this manner : ' I see it is 
useless to attempt to persuade him to distrust 
God's care over him. His trust is infinitely 
great. But this will help me to persuade him 
to trust in an unwarranted, sinful manner.' 
Therefore he approaches him, and in sub- 
stance says: 'I admire the strength, the stead- 
fastness of your trust. It is commendable, 
wonderful. It will be well with you if you 



72 Agnes 9 

always exercise such confidence in God. He 
will surely take care of you. I remember that 
the Scriptures give assurance of such care, and 
of his delivering power, even in circumstances 
when deliverance would seem impossible. I 
remember one such promise, very precious 
and emphatic. It says: "He shall give his 
angels charge concerning thee, and in their 
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time 
thou dash thy foot against a stone." Now go 
with me to the holy temple, and from its high 
pinnacle cast yourself down, and thus show 
that your trust is, indeed, infinitely great.' 

"Have you understood the nature of this 
temptation as I have thus endeavored to pre- 
sent it to you?" 

A. "I think I have. But I do not under- 
stand the answer of Jesus. Why did Jesus tell 
Satan that it was written that he should not 
tempt him?" 

P. "Your question shows clearly that you 
do not understand the answer of Jesus. From 
your question it is evident that you think it 
means that Satan should not tempt Jesus." 

F. "And is not that what Jesus said? " 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 73 

P. "Not at all. On the contrary, Jesus 
quotes it as applying to himself, as if he had 
said, 'It is written that I shall not tempt God.' 
He quotes the passage as addressed to man, 
and declares that it applies to hi?nself For 
him to do what Satan had suggested would 
be to tempt God ; therefore he refused to 
do it." 

A. "Now I see just what it means. And do 
you not think it is a pretty way for him to tell 
us that he is a man, and one of us t" 

P. "Yes; he was ever ready to set forth his 
humanity, or his human nature. Also, in this 
second temptation is clearly set forth the fact 
that his human nature alone was concerned in 
the temptation; for in his divine nature he 
could have thrown himself down from that 
high pinnacle without injury, and without ap- 
peal to the Father for help. But in his answer 
he admits that it would have been necessary 
for him to trust to God to be kept from injury, 
and to trust in God under such circumstances 
would be tempting him." 

A. "I have been wondering how we are 
ever tempted in that way." 



74 Agnes j 

P. "It is a very common temptation with 
us, and assumes various forms. I knew a man 
that was opposed to having a lightning-rod put 
on a church building. He said it was wrong, 
because it showed a want of trust in God. I 
thought I would silence him, and I said, 'Mr. 
Edwards, would you be willing to show your 
trust in God by building up a large fire in your 
fire-place on Sabbath morning, and then going 
off to church, relying on God's kind providence 
that no fire would fly out and set your dwell- 
ing on fire?' To my astonishment, he said he 
would. I told him that would be doing just 
what the devil wanted Jesus to do in the se- 
cond temptation. I succeeded in showing 
him that such trust would be presumptuous, 
wicked. 

"When duty calls a Christian to go into a 
region where he will be exposed to contagious 
disease, it is proper for him to trust God that 
the disease shall not attack him ; but to go into 
such a region just to show how strong his trust 
in God is would be presumptuous and sinful. 

"Another form of the temptation is to pre- 
sume on the goodness and mercy of God. A 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 75 

professing Christian does this when he pre- 
sumes that God will not punish him for some 
form of wrong-doing, simply because he is a 
Christian. 

"The sinner thus tempts God when he pre- 
sumes that God will not destroy him, though 
he does not confess Jesus before the world, as 
God has commanded. We have no right to 
presume that God will bless us in circumstances 
in which he has made no such promise; and 
we have no right to presume that he will not 
destroy us in circumstances in which he has 
said that he will destroy us. 

"As a matter of fact this kind of trust is 
pushed to such an extent that it reaches the 
point of distrust, as in the first temptation; 
because it is really disbelieving what God has 
told us. 

"Will you now read the third temptation? " 

A. " c Again, the devil taketh him up into an 
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all 
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of 
them ; and saith unto him, All these things will 
I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship 
me.'" 



76 Agnes, 

P. "All the allurements of the world may be 
classed under three heads : riches, honors, and 
pleasures. These are offered to Jesus in their 
totality: 'All these will I give thee.' Every- 
thing his imagination could picture ; everything 
his heart could wish that the world, in any of 
its departments, could furnish; all should be 
his. We cannot conceive a greater temptation 
than this. In Luke's account it is added that 
Satan said: 'For that is delivered unto me, 
and to whomsoever I will, I give it.' Some 
have affirmed that both Jesus and Satan knew 
that this statement was not true. Then it was 
no temptation. To make it a temptation, Jesus 
must have believed that Satan could fulfil his 
promises. Thus, only, does the temptation 
assume its true magnitude. No temptation 
presented to us can be so great, for at the best 
we are offered only a portion of what the world 
affords." 

F. "It seems to me there is a great differ- 
ence in the way Jesus was tempted and the 
way we are tempted. He did not have any 
inclination to do any of those things that Satan 
wanted him to do. And if he had no sort of 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 77 

inclination, then we can hardly call it a temp- 
tation." 

P. "You must remember that the essential 
thing in a temptation is a trial to find out 
what is in one, or what he will do. I suppose 
your idea of temptation is that one must have 
a desire to do a thing before it can be called a 
temptation. But the difference between a 
temptation that is sinful and one that is not, is 
in this, that there is, or is not, a desire to do 
the given thing. The moment I hesitate, and 
begin to consider whether I shall, or shall not 
do the given thing, then sin begins. Accord- 
ing to your idea of temptation, of course Jesus 
could not be tempted, because he was tempted 
without sin. But, as I said before, temptation 
is simply a trial to find out what is in an indi- 
vidual. You may pass through a room and 
see a large amount of gold, and the thought 
may pass through your mind that you could 
take that without ever being discovered. But 
if the thought is rejected at once, without any 
hesitation, then you have been tempted without 
sin. You have been put to the trial, and the 
discovery is made that you are honest at heart. 



78 Agnes, 

Every conceivable inducement was presented to 
Jesus to get him to distrust God, and to trust 
presumptuously; so were all the allurements 
of the world brought distinctly before him, 
and enjoyment from all offered him; but there 
was no hesitation; all were at once rejected. 
It is true, Satan has an immense advantage 
over us in his temptations, because he has our 
sinful natures and wicked inclinations as helps 
in inducing us to heed his suggestions. 

" How did Jesus resist this last assault of 
the tempter ? " 

A. "He said: 'It is written, Thou shalt 
worship the Lord thy God ; and him only 
shalt thou serve.' " 

F. "I now see what he meant. I always 
thought he applied this language to Satan ; 
but now I see that he applied it to himself." 

P. "Yes, here again, in substance, he said, 
'I must worship God, and him alone.' And in 
this he clearly indicates that he is referring to 
his human nature only: 'I, as a man, made 
under the law, must obey the law, which says, 
"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and 
him only shalt thou serve." ' " 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 79 

F. "What does the last verse mean: 'Then 
the devil leaveth him ; and, behold, angels came 
and ministered unto him ' ? " 

P. "The devil, confessing his defeat, left 
Jesus. Thus, practically, the active obedience 
of Jesus was ended. As the second Adam, 
or representative of men, he is gloriously tri- 
umphant. He has obeyed the law perfectly. 
Now, all those related to him will receive from 
his obedience just what all related to Adam 
would have received and enjoyed had Adam 
himself obeyed. 

" Thus Jesus is the ' end of the law for right- 
eousness,' in the matter of his active obedi- 
ence. 

"It is an interesting fact that both the hu- 
manity and the divinity of Jesus shine forth 
most conspicuously in connection with angels. 
I know of no better proof of the absolute di- 
vinity of Jesus than the statement of Paul in 
Hebrews i. 6. Will you read it? " 

A. "'When he bringeth the first-begotten 
into the world, he saith, And let all the angels 
of God worship him.' " 

P. "Remember, this was the command God 



80 Agnes. 

gave to the angels concerning the infant Jesus, 
while he lay in the manger at Bethlehem. 

" So here, at the close of the temptation, the 
complete humanity of Jesus shines forth, (1), 
Because of his great prostration; (2), Because 
angels came to minister to his necessities. He 
was man, acting for man, and did not appeal 
to his divine nature for help ; therefore, the 
Father came to help him through the ministra- 
tion of angels. They, no doubt, could clearly 
discriminate between his two natures. At the 
manger, it was his divinity that they wor- 
shipped; here, it was his humanity to which 
they ministered. In both cases it was that 
same incomprehensible God-man, Immanuel, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, dual in his nature, but 
one in person, forever. 

"In our next lesson we shall consider his 
other work in becoming 'the end of the law for 
righteousness,' that is, by his passive obedi- 
ence." 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

BOTH Agnes and Florence were present 
ahead of time, and it needed no ques- 
tioning to assure me that my pupils were 
deeply interested in their work. 

In order that the subject to be considered 
might be the more readily understood, I asked 
Agnes to state how the "end" of any law might 
be met. 

"In one of two ways," said she: "First, by 
doing what it requires, and by abstaining from 
what it forbids ; Secondly, in case the law has 
been violated, by suffering the penalty that 
was threatened." 

P. "Very good. And in which case would 
the end of the law for righteousness (that is, to 
meet the demands of justice) be most perfectly 
met?" 

A. "The demands of justice would be satis- 
fied alike in both cases." 

P. "And do you see this, Florence? " 

F. "I could not have understood it if Ag- 
6 81 



82 Agnes, 

nes had not explained to me the difference be- 
tween righteousness and holiness. She said a 
man is righteous when he cannot be charged 
with a violation of the law. She gave me the 
case of one who had robbed a man, and had 
been sent to the penitentiary for five years for 
his crime, and had served out his term and re- 
turned. She asked me if the man was now as 
righteous, in the sight of the law, as a good 
citizen who had never violated any law. At 
first I could not see it, and did not believe it. 
But I saw that the law could have no charge 
to bring against him, and, therefore, according 
to the meaning of the word righteous, he must 
be as righteous as the other." 

P. "As I explained to you, the work of 
Jesus was double, because he came to repre- 
sent those who had already violated the law. 
That he may be 'the end of the law' for those 
who have thus sinned, he must both obey it, 
and also suffer the penalty. We have already 
seen how he obeyed it in his temptations ; now 
we are to consider how he met the penalty in 
his sufferings. 

"It is true that in a very important sense he 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 83 

was suffering the penalty during his whole stay 
on earth. But, as his active obedience might 
be said to have been concentrated in the forty 
days' temptation, so his passive obedience may 
be regarded as condensed in what he suffered 
in Gethsemane and Calvary." 

F. "I have often wondered why he was so 
much troubled that night in the garden, when 
he took Peter, James, and John, and went to 
another part of the garden, and told them how 
great his sufferings were. I concluded that it 
was because he knew so well what was await- 
ing him on the next day." 

A. "That is what I thought. He knew they 
would crucify him the next day, and that was 
enough to fill him with sorrow." 

P. "Will you turn to the gospel history, 
and read some of his statements indicating his 
great sufferings?" 

A. " \ My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with 
me.' 

" 'And he went a little further, and fell on 
his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it 
be possible, let this cup pass from me.' 



84 Agnes, 

" 'And there appeared an angel unto him 
from heaven, strengthening him. And being 
in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And 
his sweat was as it were great drops of blood 
falling down to the ground.' " 

P. "And you think that such expressions of 
sorrow were wrung from him because he fore- 
saw that he would be crucified on the morrow? " 

F. "What else could it have been?" 

P. "I would like you to see that such 
thoughts degrade Jesus below many of his fol- 
lowers." 

A. and F. "Why? What do you mean?" 

P. "Well, listen. Did you ever read the 
account of the burning of martyrs at the stake, 
and how they endured their sufferings for their 
love to Jesus ? " 

F. "I read about Cranmer. They threat- 
ened to burn him if he did not recant. He did 
recant, and thus escaped. But he repented of 
his recantation, and then they did burn him. 
And he thrust his right hand into the flame, 
that it might be the first to suffer, because it 
had written the recantation. I also read of a 
young lady who was burned because she was a 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 85 

Christian, and in the midst of the flames she 
sang praises to God." 

P. "And, so far as you can judge, which 
do you think would cause the most suffering, 
crucifixion, or slow burning? " 

A. " I think the fire would." 

F. "So do I." 

P. " Then think of it. According to what 
you stated, it would seem that Jesus made 
greater exhibitions of alarm about the prospect 
of being crucified than some of his followers 
did in the midst of flames when they were 
suffering so much physical agony for his 
sake." 

F. " Well, I never thought of that. But it 
seems to be true. But what else could make 
him so sorrowful? " 

P. " Will you read Isaiah liii. 5, 6 ? " 

A. "'But he was wounded for our trans- 
gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : 
the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; 
and with his stripes we are healed. All we 
like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned 
every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath 
laid on him the iniquity of us all.' " 



86 Agnes, 

P. " Now read what Paul says in 2 Corin- 
thians v. 21." 

A. "'For he hath made him to be sin for 
us, who knew no sin ; that ve might be made 
the righteousness of God in him.' ' 

P. "The language of Jesus in connection 
with his sufferings, when viewed in the light of 
these passages you have read, will throw light 
on the subject we are now considering. Will 
you read Luke xxii. 37 ? " 

A. " 'For I say unto you, that this that is 
written must yet be accomplished in me, And 
he was reckoned among the transgressors : for 
the things concerning me have an end. 5 ' 

P. " Here it is plain that sin had much to 
do with his sufferings. Not his own sins, but 
ours. He was made to be sin for us. Our 
iniquities were laid on him. And in the verse 
you just read, he said the time had come 
when he must be reckoned among transgres- 
sors. Now read Mark xiv. 27." 

A. " 'And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall 
be offended because of me this night : for it is 
written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the 
sheep shall be scattered.' " 



Daughter' of William the Baptist. 87 

P. " You must note that in Isaiah it is said 
'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us 
all.' And here God says, '/will smite the 
Shepherd.' From these statements we can 
readily see that the sufferings of Jesus in 
Gethsemane were from the hand of God." 

F. " What did he mean when on the cross 
he cried, 'My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me? 

P. " That exclamation, taken with those 
passages you read, show clearly that his suf- 
ferings were from God, and on account of sin. 
The 'end of the law/ in case of transgression, 
was death, according to the threatening, 'the 
day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.' 
What is meant by 'death? as thus threatened, 
we cannot know fully in this life. In part, it 
meant to be under the curse of God. Will 
you read Galatians iii. 13 ? " 

A. " ' Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for 
us.' " 

P. " In all that he endured in Gethsemane 
and on the cross, he was meeting the penalty 
incurred by man because of his sin. What- 



88 Agnes, 

ever the law threatened, that is what Jesus 
endured. "Whatever was meant by death, that 
is what Jesus suffered. He was to be, com- 
pletely, 'the end of the law,' both in obeying 
its precepts and suffering its penalty. He con- 
tinued in this work until he cried, 'It is fin- 
shed/ that is, his work of being 'the end of 
the law.' " 

F. "Do you think he suffered what Adam 
would have suffered if salvation had not been 
provided?" 

P. "Most certainly he did, else he could 
not have been the 'end of the law.' That he 
suffered separation from God appears from 
that cry just before death, 'My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me V That he regard- 
ed himself as having suffered all that the law 
and the justice of God demanded, appears from 
the statement already quoted, found in John 
xix. 30: 'When Jesus therefore had received 
the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and he 
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.' " 

F. "But Adam's suffering would have been 
eternal." 

P. " So it would ; but its eternal continu- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 89 

ance was not in the curse itself. It would have 
been eternal, simply because Adam had no 
power to extricate himself from death when 
once under its power. But read John x. 17-18." 

A. "' Therefore doth my Father love me, 
because I lay down my life that I might take 
it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay 
it down of myself. I have power to lay it 
down, and I have power to take it again. This 
commandment have I received of my Father.' ' 

P. "Here is one of the occasions on which 
his divine nature shone forth. It was as man, 
in his human nature, that he suffered and died ; 
but when his work was finished, and he came 
under the power of death, then, by his divine 
nature, he burst the bands of death, arose, and 
came forth." 

F. "I now see, far more clearly than I ever 
saw before, how Christ met the penalty of the 
law, and satisfied every demand of justice; but 
my mind is confused when I begin to think 
how his work stands related to the race. If he 
satisfied the whole law, and suffered all that 
was threatened against man on account of sin, 
then how does the race stand related to his 



90 Agnes, 

work; or, rather, how does his work stand re- 
lated to the race?" 

P. "I understand your difficulty; that same 
question has bothered others, and has given 
rise to much contention and controversy. But 
I think I can enable you to understand it suffi- 
ciently to remove from your mind that confu- 
sion of thought of which you speak. The sub- 
ject is somewhat confusing, because it is to be 
regarded in a two-fold aspect, that is, divine 
and human. From the divine standpoint, we 
must regard the sufferings and work of Jesus 
as having reference to his own people. Will 
you read John xvii., 6th and 9th verses?" 

A. " 'I have manifested thy name unto the 
men which thou gavest me out of the world. 
Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.' ' I 
pray for them. I pray not for the world, but 
for them which thou hast given me; for they 
are thine.' " 

P. "Here, as in other places, we read of a 
people being given to Christ, so that he called 
them his people. Will you now read John x. 
14-15?" 

A. "'I am the good shepherd, and know 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 91 

my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Fa- 
ther knoweth me, even so know I the Father : 
and I lay down my life for the sheep.' " 

P. "These passages settle the question as 
to the nature, purpose, and object of his work, 
when the subject is viewed from the divine 
standpoint. Jesus died to save the people God 
the Father had given him, 

"When viewed from the human standpoint, 
it is somewhat different. Then we see his work 
simply as sufficient in its value to avail for de- 
livering from the curse, not every creature, but 
all those who are descended from Adam. In 
itself alone, it did not deliver a single one from 
a single sin. It delivers only those who become 
related to him, or, as we might say, are de- 
scended from him. Now, note this : our rela- 
tionship to Adam, because of which we are 
sinners, is by means of natural birth. But we 
are not so related to Jesus. Our relationship 
to Jesus comes horn faith in him, and our de- 
scent from him comes from our regeneration 
by the Holy Spirit. On this point, read John 
i. 12, 13." 

A. " ' But as many as received him, to them 



92 Agnes, 

gave lie power to become the sons of God, 
even to them that believe on his name ; which 
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' " 

P. "Also Galatians iii. 26." 

A. " 'For ye are all the children of God by 
faith in Christ Jesus. ' " 

P. "In these passages you see our rela- 
tionship is not by blood or birth, but by faith. 
So in Romans x. 4, it is declared that Christ 
is the end of the law to every one that be- 
lievethr 

A. " But did you not tell me that I was 
born a member of the church ? " 

P. "I did, and I am glad you have kept it 
in mind, and now call attention to it. I did 
say that you became a member by birth, but 
that did not make you a child of God. It 
entitled you simply to the blessings and privi- 
leges of the church. And even that was by 
reason of faith, that is, the faith of your pa- 
rents. It is also true that by reason of that 
faith, God grants regeneration by his Spirit, so 
that, even in infancy, one may become a child 
of God." 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 93 

A. "Won't you please explain just what is 
meant by faith, as it is used in that verse 
in Galatians iii. 26?" 

P. "I will endeavor to make it plain to 
you. But, first, I wish to tell y^u what it is 
not. It is not simple, general belief of any 
kind or in any thing. One may believe every 
truth about God, and about Jesus Christ, and 
everything revealed to us in the Bible; but 
that will not make him a child of God. Devils 
believe all such truths. It is true, we must 
believe all these truths, but such belief is not 
that spoken of in the text you quoted. To 
illustrate what saving faith means, let us sup- 
pose the case of a man who has some know- 
ledge of God and of Jesus and his work, who 
feels that he is a sinner and wishes to be 
forgiven and saved. He goes to God and 
asks to be forgiven and saved. Let us sup- 
pose that God asks him the question, 'Why 
shall I forgive and save you ? ' and the man 
answers, ' Because I am a sinner, and you are 
merciful.' Now God will do nothing without 
a sufficient reason, and that man has given 
no reason at all. God never offered to save 



94 Agnes, 

men because they are sinners, nor did he offer 
to save them because he is merciful. His ve- 
racity and justice forbid. 

" Again, suppose the man should say, 'I 
wish you to save me because I repent of my 
sins, and I promise to be baptized and to 
unite with the church, to read my Bible, and 
do all the good I can in the world.' All these 
things are right and good in themselves, and 
are duties which must be performed; but they 
offer no sufficient reason why God should 
grant the request. 

" Only one sufficient reason can be given, 
and this one the sinner must give, if he se- 
cures the blessings sought. When God asks, 
'"Why shall I forgive your sins and save you? 1 
he must answer, ' JBecause Jesus died to save 
me? This is ' looking to Jesus'; 'trusting' 
him; 'coming unto God through him;' 're- 
ceiving him ; ' this is asking for pardon and 
salvation for Jesus sake; in a word, this is 
the faith by which one becomes a child of 
God. This is believing on Jesus. It is identi- 
cal with 'receiving' him, as in John i. 12, 'But 
as many as received him, to them gave he 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 95 

power [or right or privilege] to become the 
sons of God, even to them that believe on his 
name/ Here you notice two things that are 
synonymous or mean the same thing, that is, 
believing on him, and receiving him. 

" In our next we may consider the condition 
of those who believe on Jesus." 



OHAPTEE IX. 

BEFORE our next meeting, Florence did 
some good missionary work at her own 
home. Her father was a physician, very suc- 
cessful in his profession. He was highly edu- 
cated, had a high sense of honor, was very be- 
nevolent, and prided himself on his morality. 
He did not often go to church, but had been 
induced to attend the Baptist church on the 
Sabbath to hear Dr. B., who had considerable 
reputation as a pulpit orator. The text w&s, 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." His subject was faith as the 
one thing essential for salvation. He was spe- 
cially severe in his denunciation of the notion 
that morality can, in any degree, be a founda- 
tion for a hope of acceptance with God. On 
Sabbath afternoon the Doctor referred to the 

i 

sermon, and expressed his disapprobation of 
the sentiment advanced, in a very decided 
manner. He insisted on it that what God de- 
mands of his creatures is, that they shall be 

96 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 97 

honest and upright in their dealings with their 
fellow-men, and do all the good they can. He 
quoted the language of James where he says, 
4 'Pure religion and undefiled before God and 
the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and 
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world." 

"That," said he, "is my doctrine. I want a 
religion that will lead a man to be and to do 
as Christ did. It is said of him that he went 
about doing good. A man should be rewarded 
for what he does, not for what he believes. 
Tour believing will not help your neighbor, or 
make him any happier. Doing is what pure 
religion demands." 

Florence listened to her father without in- 
terrupting him. "When he had finished, she 
ventured to say: "But, pa, it seems to me that 
the doing of every one will be governed by his 
believing. When you visit a patient, you pre- 
scribe a certain kind of medicine, because you 
believe that particular medicine will assist in 
restoring the man to health. In all your acts 
as a physician you are governed by your be- 
liefs. But, if you will allow me to suggest it, 
7 



98 Agnes, 

I would say that you preached a nice little 
Christian sermon in all you said about doing 
good. Christ requires that of all his followers, 
and so do all the apostles whose writings are 
in the New Testament." 

Dr. G. "Then, why do the preachers have 
so much to say about faith, faith, faith, and 
so little about doing good ? " 

F. " Perhaps they do not say as much as 
they should about doing good; but you must 
remember there is a wide difference between 
"becoming a Christian, on the one hand, and be- 
ing or acting as a Christian, on the other." 

Dr. G. "I do not see the difference. If I 
perform the duties of a Christian, I am a 
Christian, and doing such things makes me a 
Christian." 

F. "But in your idea of salvation or Chris- 
tianity, it seems to me, there is no need of 
Christ at all. Would you throw him out of 
view entirely?" 

Dr. G. " No ; Christ came to save those that 
imitate him." 

F. "But he says, 'He that believeth and is 
baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 99 

not, shall be damned/ What will you do with 
that statement ?" 

Dr. G. "Of course we must believe in 
Christ. I have just said that I believe that he 
came to save those that imitate him. I always 
have believed in him. I deal honestly with my 
fellow-beings, and try to do them good ; and I 
expect God to save me because of these things." 

F. " But, pa, there is no place for Christ in 
such a means of salvation. You say you ex- 
pect to be saved because of your own good 
works. But Paul says, 'By the deeds of the 
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.' 
(Romans iii. 20.) After showing this truth in 
every way, he says, in verse 28 : ' Therefore we 
conclude that a man is justified by faith with- 
out the deeds of the law.' He does not say 
that a Christian can live in this world as a 
Christian without the deeds of the law, but 
that no one can become a Christian by the, 
deeds of the law." 

Dr. G. "But, as I told you, I do believe in 
Christ." 

F. "But believing in Christ, according to 
the Scriptures, is to receive him as a Saviour ; 



100 Affiles, 

to trust him ; to desire to be pardoned and 
saved because of his merits or his righteous- 
ness. It is as if we, because of our sins, owed 
the law or the justice of God an infinite debt, 
which could be paid only by our everlasting 
punishment. But Christ came and paid it all, 
and tells us that we shall have the benefit of 
all his work in paying the debt credited to our 
account, if we ask him for it. This asking him 
for it is what the Scriptures call faith, and it 
is thus that we become Christ's, or Christians. 
I know that you are always trying to do all the 
good you can. I do not know a Christian that 
does more. But you do these things to be 
saved. Christians do these things out of love 
and gratitude to Jesus for his work in saving 
them." 

She waited to hear what her father would 
say, but he was silent, and seemed engaged in 
meditation. After a while she ventured to say : 

" The way this matter of hoping to be saved 
by our own good works strikes me is something 
like this : a man owes a debt of a million dol- 
lars, and must be put into prison if he does 
not pay it ; but he has nothing with which to 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 101 

pay even a small part of it. But he feels that 
something must be done; so he gathers up a 
bucketful of old dry leaves, and takes them to 
the creditor, and asks him to accept this as 
full payment of the debt. I am sure I have 
not exaggerated in the illustration. Our good 
works can no more pay what we owe the justice 
of God, than could those dry leaves pay a debt 
of a million of dollars. Christ paid it by his 
obedience, sufferings, and death, and offers the 
benefit of all to us if we will accept. " 

Dr. G. "Well, daughter, I never listened to 
such a sermon before. I am inclined to think 
you are right, and that I have not been taking 
a correct view of this matter. I now see that 
there is a great difference between what a man 
must do to hecame a Christian and what he 
must do after he has become a Christian. I 
have been trying to do what Christians ought 
to do, but never did what is necessary in order 
that I might become a Christian" 

The result of the matter was that Dr. G. be- 
gan to search the Bible. He earnestly prayed 
for light and guidance. Everywhere, but espe- 
cially in the first five chapters of Romans and 



102 Agnes. 

in the third of Galatians, he found the truth as 
Florence had presented it. With tears of peni- 
tence and joy, he accepted Jesus as his Savi- 
our, trusting to his righteousness alone, real- 
izing that of and in himself he was entirely 
destitute of anything to commend him to the 
favor of God. 



CHAPTEK X. 

FROM a variety of causes, two weeks 
elapsed before I had another interview 
with my pupils. I was glad to learn that our ' 
topics were the subject of frequent conversa- 
tions between them. 

When we met, in order to test their con- 
tinued interest, by ascertaining whether they 
kept in mind the topic proposed for consid- 
eration, I asked what subject we should con- 
sider, or if they had any choice. 

To this Agnes promptly replied, "Why, we 
have a topic ; you told us we should consider 
the condition of Christians ; and we have tried 
to anticipate the particular character of the 
subject. Florence said she thought you meant 
that it would be about falling from grace. I 
said I thought it would be about those things 
that make Christians happy and contented in 
this world." 

P. "Well, I guess you are both correct. 
But the topic you have suggested would be 

103 



104 Agnes, 

about endless should we consider it in all its 
various aspects. Their condition is the very 
ideal of all that is desirable in the present 
state of existence. It will be both pleasant 
and profitable for you to collect and arrange 
the promises that are made to Christians. 
You will find many in the Old Testament, 
and especially in the Psalms ; and in the New 
Testament you will find them abounding every- 
where. All of them are intended and calcu- 
lated to make us joyful, confident, and happy 
in every possible condition in life." 

F. " Do you think it is wrong for Chris- 
tians to be sorrowful and unhappy when they 
cannot help being so ? " 

P. " That is a question that cannot be an- 
swered by yes or no. One means by which 
sorrow finds expression is by weeping. But 
it is certain there is no sin in tears, because 
' Jesus wept.' Sorrow becomes sinful when it 
is divorced from trust and hope. It is so, if 
with the sorrow there is a feeling of repining, 
murmuring, and discontent. Will you read 
the first verse of the fourteenth chapter of 
John?" 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 105 

A. "I can repeat it from memory: 'Let 
not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, 
believe also in me.' " 

P. "From the manner in which you read 
it, no special thought is brought to our atten- 
tion. Try again." 

A. " ' Let not your heart be troubled.' " 

P. " What idea does that suggest to your 
mind?" 

F. "If others are troubled in heart Chris- 
tians should not be." 

P. " Tou will find that suggestive and wor- 
thy of meditation. Others may well be trou- 
bled and cast down; but Christians, in the 
midst of all their sorrows, should be able to 
rejoice by reason of the many assurances of 
God's help and blessing. Try that first clause 
again." 

F. " 'Let not your heart be troubled.' " 

P. "And now what is the thought ? " 

A. "I see it. Though your body be in a 
troubled condition, enduring great suffering, 
yet let not your heart be troubled." 

F. "And still more. Though your mind be 
distressed, yet let not your heart be troubled. 



106 Agnes, 

"When Jesus wept lie was not troubled in body 
nor in heart, but in mind." 

P. "Still another thought is brought to 
light by placing the emphasis on the word 
troubled. This word, in classic Greek, is used 
to describe the condition of the sea in its dis- 
turbances, also the condition of an army when 
routed and put to flight. Perhaps our word 
panic will present the idea. It means a dis- 
turbance that is without reason, and that is 
wild and uncontrollable. He does not forbid 
sorrow or grief; but that demoralized condi- 
tion of the soul, such as takes possession of a 
multitude when a panic prevails. 

"Now, let us turn our thoughts to the 
subject suggested by Florence, which she 
called falling from grace. Is the doctrine, as 
taught by Presbyterians, this, that if a per- 
son is truly converted they will certainly be 
saved f " 

A. " That is what they believe and teach." 

P. "You are correct in what you say, but it 
is not an answer to my question. Some may 
think that what I wish to impress on your 
minds is a distinction without a difference. 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 107 

But I know that the distinction is real and 
important." 

F. " They call it the doctrine of the filial 
perseverance of the saints." 

P. " That is correct. It is misleading to 
say that we teach that if a man is once a Chris- 
tian he will certainly he saved. The same may 
be said of this form of statement used by some, 
that is, it is impossible for them to fall from 
graced 

A. " Do you not believe that these things 
are true ? " 

P. "I do. But the doctrine, as thus stated, 
is opposed by such silly sophistry as this, that 
'if one who becomes a Christian will certainly 
be saved, then it makes no difference how he 
lives, or what he does, he will certainly be 
saved" Such nonsense cannot be urged 
against the doctrine as we set it forth, be- 
cause our statement is, that if a man is truly 
converted he will certainly continue faithful 
all his life" 

A. "I see the difference, and I think it is 
of great importance ; I confess that the reasons 
urged against the other form of statement 



108 s Agnes, 

sometimes gave me trouble. I knew they 
were not true, but I did not see how to silence 
those that urged them. But I see that no 
such consequences can be thought of, or urged 
against the doctrine when properly stated." 

P. " We believe in the doctrine of the final 
perseverance of the saints : 

"1. From the very nature of salvation. As 
we have already seen, we do not become Chris- 
tians by our own good works or obedience, but 
by faith. Our good works are not taken into 
consideration in the matter of our becoming 
Christians. Nothing but the merit of Christ is 
the ground of our acceptance. 

" 2. When we become Christians, we are 'in 
Christ,' that is, he and we are regarded as one 
in the sight of the law and justice of God. 
Paul says that such are no longer ( under the 
law' For the purpose of justification and 
acceptance we have nothing to do with the 
law ; and the law has nothing to do with us. 
Christ is the end of the law for us. The 
law and justice must look to Christ alone 
for satisfaction. All the sins of those who 
trust in him are charged to his account." 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 109 

A. "But suppose the Christian ceases to 
trust in Jesus, and does wicked things; what 
then?" 

P. "You ask two questions under the form 
of one. Our whole doctrine is, that the Chris- 
tian will not cease to trust him. It is true, he 
may do wicked things. But if a sin committed 
by the Christian will separate him from Christ, 
then any sin will do it. But any one who says 
he has no sin is a liar, and the truth is not in 
him, says the Apostle John. And thus, you 
see, it would be impossible to continue to be a 
Christian for a single day or hour, because no 
one can cease from sinning. 

"3. "We believe that Christians will certainly 
persevere, because persevering grace has been 
promised to them. Will you read Phil. i. 6?" 

A. "'Being confident of this very thing, 
that he that hath begun a good work in you 
will perform' [or finish] 'it until the day of 
Jesus Christ.' " 

P. "Of course he means that Jesus begins 
the work, and that he will finish it. A similar 
statement is found in Hebrews xii. 2. Will 
you read the first clause?" 



110 Agnes, 

A. " 'Looking unto Jesus, the author and 
finisher of our faith.' " 

P. "In 'the margin you will see 'beginner' 
for the word 'author' in the text. One other 
passage on this point will suffice. "Will you 
read First Corinthians x. 13?" 

A. " c There hath no temptation taken you 
but such as is common to man. But God is 
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted 
above that ye are able ; but will with the temp- 
tation also make a way to escape, that ye may 
be able to bear it.' " 

F. "What does the verse before this one 
mean?" 

P. "Will you read it?" 

F. "'Wherefore let him that thinketh he 
standeth, take heed lest he fall.' ' 

P. "The meaning of all such admonitions 
is simply this : to be careful to use the means 
necessary to keep you from falling. You will 
find a very strong statement of the same kind 
in First Corinthians ix. 27. Will you read 
it?" 

F. " 'But I keep under my body, and bring 
it into subjection, lest that by any means, when 



Daughter of William, the Baptist. Ill 

I have preached unto others, I myself should 
be a castaway.' " 

P. "All that Paul here asserts is, that he 
uses the means necessary to keep him from 
falling. Of course, if a Christian does not use 
the means, he must fall. But our doctrine is 
simply this: that, by the grace of God, he will 
use the means." 

F. "How are we to account for the fact 
that many Christians, and among the number 
preachers of the gospel, do very well for a 
time, and then go back to the world, and even 
become the enemies of religion?" 

P. " Perhaps John can best answer that 
question, as he does in First John ii. 19. Will 
you read it?" 

F. " ' They went out from us, but they were 
not of us; for if they had been of us, they 
would no doubt have continued with us ; but 
they went out, that they might be made mani- 
fest that they were not all of us.' " 

P. "There are other forms of statement 
that show the truth of the doctrine we are now 
considering. "Will you read John x. 27-29?" 

A. " 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know 



112 Agnes, 

them, and they follow me : and I give unto 
them eternal lif e ; and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. 
My Father, which gave them me, is. greater 
than all ; and no man is able to pluck them out 
of my Father's hand.' " 

P. "Here, you see, the statement is the 
strongest possible. It is that they shall never 
perish. 

"You will find another form of statement in 
Romans viii. 30, which please read." 

A. " 'Whom he did predestinate, them he 
also called ; and whom he called, them he also 
justified ; and whom he justified, them he also 
glorified.' " 

P. "Here you see an unbroken chain. Our 
salvation, in all its parts, is declared to be of 
God's grace. We are taken back to the begin- 
ning, that is, God's predestinating grace ; then 
in due time he calls those who were predestin- 
ated; then he justifies them; and finally he 
glorifies them. These passages, as you see, 
are stronger than our statement of the doc- 
trine." 

F. "I do not see why any Christian should 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 113 

not believe it. I know that some say that it 
leads Christians to become careless, but I do 
not see how it can do that." 

P. "As I have already explained, it has no 
such tendency, because the doctrine is, that if 
they are really Christians, they will not become 
careless. Then, when they become careless, 
they may conclude that their heart never was 
right in the sight of God. 

"The opposite doctrine is one of the peculi- 
arities of what is known as Arminianism. But 
Arminius, even in his old age, was not willing 
to deny the doctrine as we hold it. It is de- 
clared that he said in a public conference, just 
before his death, 'that he had never opposed 
the doctrine of the certain perseverance of the 
truly believing ; nor, thus far, was he willing to 
oppose it, because those testimonies of the 
Scriptures stood for it, to which he was not as 
yet able to answer.' " (Encyclopcedia ofHeligi- 
ous Knowledge, page 119.) 

F. "You have made this very plain. That 
verse, Eomans viii. 30, tells us of something I 
never could understand ; I mean, what it says 
about predestination." 



114 Agnes. 

P. "That is, indeed, a very mysterious doc- 
trine. But it is not half as mysterious as is 
the denial of it. Let it be the subject of our 
next conference." 



CHAPTEE XL 

BEFORE our next meeting a very distress- 
ing accident occurred, by which the 
infant child of a saloon-keeper lost its life. 
The parents were avowedly atheists. By the 
carelessness of a washerwoman some boiling 
water had been overturned, a portion of which 
fell on the infant, scalding it in a most painful 
manner. The little sufferer lingered for two 
or three days. Its terrible condition excited 
the sympathy of the whole community. For 
some reason, I know not what, a Christian 
minister was requested to officiate at the 
funeral. A large crowd was assembled. In the 
course of his remarks the preacher took special 
pains to emphasize the fact that all infants 
are taken directly to heaven, and expressed 
his surprise, his pity, and his indignation that 
any respectable Christian organization should 
hold and teach the doctrine that only a por- 
tion of those dying in infancy are saved. 

Many understood him to refer to the Pres- 
115 



116 Agnes, 

byterian Church as teaching that some, or 
many infants are lost. In private circles the 
subject was discussed with no little warmth, 
many declaring that the Presbyterian Confes- 
sion of Faith teaches that infants are in hell. 

No sooner were we ready for work, than 
Florence asked me if I believed that any in- 
fants are lost. 

"No," said I, "I believe that all infants 
dying in infancy are saved." 

She then told me what she had heard peo- 
ple say a few days before, that they had heard 
Presbyterian preachers affirm that the Bible 
teaches that all non-elect infants are lost. 

"That," said I, "is the old oft-repeated 
story, not to call it by a stronger name. But 
I never knew a Presbyterian preacher who 
believed or taught any such doctrine." 

P. " Then why do they keep on saying it ? " 

P. " Some say it in ignorance ; others, from 
malice. Perhaps it will suffice to show you 
how little truth there is in the charge, if I 
tell you what I once heard Rev. Dr. Charles 
Hodge say on this same charge. He was a 
teacher of theology in the Theological Semi- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 117 

nary in Princeton, New Jersey. He was a 
professor in that institution for forty-four 
years. No man in the world knew more about 
Presbyterianism and Presbyterian preachers 
than he did. He said, in one of his lectures, 
that some people were very sure they had 
known Presbyterian preachers who believed 
and taught the doctrine of infant damnation. 
He said if there were any such they had no 
authority for such a belief, either in the Bible 
or in our Confession of Faith. And, again, 
he said he had never known a Presbyterian 
preacher who held to such a doctrine, and, 
moreover, he had never heard of one." 

A. "Then I suppose there are none who do 
teach it." 

F. "Why does the Confession of Faith say 
that elect infants dying in infancy are saved ? 
Why does it not say that all infants dying in 
infancy are saved?" 

P. " Because the object of a Confession of 
Faith is to present what we believe the Bible 
most certainly teaches. On the subject of the 
universal salvation of infants the Bible teaches 
nothing directly. It does not teach that all are 



118 Agnes, 

saved, nor does it teach that a single one is 
lost. As they become sinful, and by imputa- 
tion sinners also, by the sin of another without 
their own knowledge, we believe that, if they 
are taken from the world before reaching years 
of accountability, God in his mercy will graci- 
ously save them because of the righteousness 
of Jesus, though they have no knowledge of 
him and his salvation. " 

F. "But would it be just in God to allow 
any of them to perish ? " 

P. " Suppose that Jesus had not come as a 
Saviour ; who would have been saved?" 

F. "None." 

P. "What, then, would have become of 
both infants and adults?" 

F. "All must have hopelessly perished." 

P. "Then you see it is a wicked assumption 
and presumption to intimate that God would 
be unjust if he did not save all infants. 

"Again, if he would be unjust to allow an 
infant to perish, then he is under obligation to 
save it. But if he is obliged to save it, then its 
salvation is not of grace, but of necessity. But 
the Bible teaches that all who are saved are 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 119 

saved by grace. Thus you see that in raising 
the cry that God would be unjust if he does 
not save all infants, we completely destroy the 
whole idea of salvation by grace. 

" We know that all the elect infants dying in 
infancy will be saved most graciously, because 
it is God's good pleasure. 

"But to this some one may reply, 'Then, 
why not believe that all infants dying in in- 
fancy are of the elect ? ' 

""Well, that is just our opinion on the sub- 
ject, that every infant dying in infancy is of 
the elect. This opinion is based on the general 
tenor of the Scriptures ; but it is a question on 
which the Bible does not teach anything in a 
direct manner; therefore, the utmost that we 
dare say in a Confession of Faith is what we 
do therein say, that is, that elect infants, dying 
in infancy, are graciously saved by the blood of 
Jesus." 

F. "It is very plain, and I see that our 
Confession is right. It goes as far as the re- 
velation that God has given us would warrant 
us in going." 

A. "I do not see why people should tell 



120 . Agnes, 

such ugly stories aoout Presbyterians. They 
do not take the trouble to ask what we believe. 
But now let us hear about that doctrine of pre- 
destination. People talk about this as that 
horrible doctrine. They say that, according to 
our belief, they do not see any use in trying to 
be a Christian, because, if we are to be saved, 
we will be saved any way ; and if we are not to 
be saved, then we cannot be, whatever we may 

dor 

P. "Yes, that is the way many talk, and 
it shows that they have the spirit of a selfish 
hireling or of a slave. They do not think 
that the character, and works, and life of a 
Christian on earth are worth anything, except 
in so far as it will enable them to escape hell 
and get a place in heaven. It is difficult to 
see how any one, actuated by such selfish mo- 
tives, can be a Christian. They simply tell us 
what they would think and do if they believed 
in predestination. And here it is, the picture 
they draw of themselves : c Well, I am a Chris- 
tian, and therefore I am predestinated to be 
saved. Since this is so, and I am very fond of 
amusement, I will go to the dance instead of to 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 121 

the prayer-meeting. Yes, and there are many 
ways r in which I like to indulge myself, and 
seeing I am one of the elect, why, I will just 
indulge, and have lots of fun.' That is their 
idea of Christianity, if they could only be as- 
sured that their salvation were absolutely sure. 
But the history of the church shows that those 
who believe in predestination are, of all others, 
the most earnest and zealous in trying to make 
their election sure. They, of all others, are 
most persevering in the use of means whereby 
they may find acceptance with God. 

"While there are mysteries connected with 
the doctrine, yet they are no greater than some 
things connected with the doctrine of the 
incarnation ; such, for example, that Jesus is 
truly God, and truly man. 

"The whole subject of predestination must 
be viewed from two standpoints : divine and 
human. As viewed from the former, both in 
the light of reason and revelation, it is abso- 
lutely certain that God has, from eternity, 
foreordained all things that come to pass. 

"As viewed from the human standpoint, it 
is just as certain that man is a free agent, and 



122 Agnes, 

does as lie pleases, and thus lias his destiny in 
his own hands. 

"The objections that are urged against the 
doctrine may, with exactly the same force, be 
urged against the doctrine of GodPs omnisci- 
ence." 

A. "I do not understand how that can be." 
P. "It is very plain. Take any event of 
any kind, or all events. If God is omniscient 
he knows before they come to pass whether or 
not they will come to pass, and also everything 
in connection with their coming to pass. Take 
the case of a child but one day old. God 
knows what will be the history of that child, 
though it may live a hundred years. He 
knows it infinitely better than the whole world 
will know it after the child has reached old age 
and died. He knows what will be its eternal 
destiny. Then all things in reference to it will 
be just as he now knows them ; they are fixed 
and certain ; they cannot be otherwise, else he 
did not know them. Thus you see that God's 
omniscience, his foreknowledge, presents all 
the difficulties that are presented by predesti- 
nation. This has led some to deny his omni- 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 123 

science. They say he cannot know what will 
happen to a free agent. This, of course, in- 
volves the denial of the possibility of prophecy ; 
and this is no better than atheism. Do you 
understand it? " 

A. " It is very clear, but I never thought of 
it in that light. But if an event is -fixed and 
certain, then I do not see that anything we 
can do can change it." 

P. "It is not my purpose to attempt to en- 
able you to understand all the mysteries con- 
nected with it. The important question to be 
considered is this: What do the Scriptures 
clearly teach ? Reference has already been 
made to the absurd inferences which some 
draw from it : thus, if I am one of the elect, 
then it matters not what I do, or how I live ; I 
shall be saved, simply because I have been 
predestinated to eternal life." 

F. "I confess, when people thus talk, I do 
not know how to answer them." 

P. "It is with this doctrine just as it is 
with the doctrine of the final perseverance of 
the saints : the enemies of the doctrine state it 
to suit themselves, and in such a manner as to 



124 Agnes, 

give some degree of plausibility to their absurd 
inferences. If this doctrine is stated as it is in 
the Bible, to their surprise they find no foun- 
dation for their silly conclusions. Please read 
Romans viii. 29." 

A. "'For whom he did foreknow, he also 
did predestinate to be conformed to the image 
of his Son.' " 

P. "This is one of the strong passages in 
favor of the doctrine ; but you notice that no- 
thing is said about the salvation of a man he- 
ing fixed and certain, regardless of his charac- 
ter and conduct. The predestination is unto 
holiness, or that we may be conformed to the 
image of Jesus, Now read another of the 
strong proof -texts, that found in Eph. i. 4." 

A. " ' According as he hath chosen us in 
him before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and without blame before 
him in love.' " 

P. "Now try those silly inferences when 
the doctrine is thus stated in a scriptural form. 
It will be thus : ' Since we have been predes- 
tinated to a life of holiness here on earth, 
therefore it makes no difference if we do live 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 125 

in sin.' Or thus: 'If a man has been predes- 
tinated to be a carpenter all his life, then it 
makes no difference if he is a blacksmith, and 
never works at the carpenter's trade at all.' 
When the doctrine is properly stated, you can 
readily see the absurdity of all those foolish 
inferences." 

F. "That puts the doctrine in a very differ- 
ent light. But I suppose they would then say, 
that if they are elected to he good Christians 
here, they will be, any way, and that, therefore, 
there is no use in trying to be such." 

P. " No ; any one who would so reason 
would stand convicted of the grossest folly, 
because he would not thus reason and act in 
anything else but religion. Suppose the man 
who would so reason was a farmer; He must 
know that if God has foreordained all things 
that come to pass, he has foreordained just 
how many bushels of com or wheat the farmer 
will raise the coming year. Then, according to 
the supposition, the farmer must say, 'Well, 
since God knows just how much grain I will 
raise the coming year, it is fixed and certain, 
and nothing can change it. Therefore, I will 



126 Agnes, 

sit down and enjoy myself, instead of laboring 
and toiling in plowing, and sowing and tending 
my crop.' How nrncli corn do yon suppose 
such a farmer would find in his crib, or wheat 
in his granary, when the time of harvest is 
oyer i 

F. " They would be empty." 

P. "And the farmer very well knows it, and 
acts accordingly. Thus it is in religion. As 
that farmer by his diligence makes it sure that 
it was predestinated that his crib shall be full 
of corn, so can any man make his l calling and 
election sure.' " 

F. "I heard some one say that God elected 
to everlasting life those whom he foresaw would 
accept Jesus." 

P. "That is somewhat like the theory of 
those who say that God foreknows only some 
things that are future. In this the trouble 
would be how to know what he should not 
foreknow. That would represent him as hav- 
ing all things before him, and from these 
selecting some things that he would foreknow, 
and other things that he would not foreknow. 
But the difficulty is, that he must have first 



Daughter of William the Baptist, 127 

known them to know what lie would not know ; 
than which you can conceive of nothing more 
absurd. 

"As to his foreseeing who would accept 
Jesus, and electing them to life, these five 
things may be said : 

" 1. In that case there would be no need of 
any election. Such persons would be as well 
off without the election. 

"2. It would take from God all participation 
in the salvation of the elect. The glory of a 
man's salvation would be to himself, because 
God simply foresaw that he would accept. 

" 3. It would leave infants to perish, because 
God could not foresee that they would ac- 
cept. 

" 4. The Bible declares that the election or 
predestination is not to the end, that is, eternal 
life, but to the means by whicli that eternal 
life is secured. We are predestinated unto 
holiness ; and to be conformed to the image of 
his Son. 

" 5. In Ephesians i. 5 we are told that the 
predestination is simply 'according to the good 
pleasure of his will.' This is declared to be 



128 Agnes, 

the whole ground or reason of the predestina- 
tion." 

F. "Do you think anybody can be saved 
that wishes salvation ? " 

P. "Most assuredly. There is no church 
on earth that teaches more fully and emphati- 
cally the doctrine of free agency than does the 
Presbyterian Church. "We teach it, and believe 
it, and know it, because the Bible makes it very 
plain. Jesus himself said, 'Ye will not come 
unto me that ye might have life.' The invita- 
tions of the gospel are of the most general 
character. Nothing could be more general than 
this : e Whosoever will, let him take the water 
of life freely: " (Eev. xxii. 17.) 

A. " Well, I do not see why people tell so 
many stories about what Presbyterians believe 
and teach." 

P. "Men are inclined to run to extremes. 
There are two facts that we must never lose 
sight of; one of these is the absolute sover- 
eignty of God ; the other is the free agency of 
man. Some have pushed their ideas of the 
former to the extreme of fatalism. This the 
Presbyterian Church has carefully avoided. 



Daughter of William the Baptist. 129 

Others have gone to such extremes in their 
ideas of free agency as to deny the sovereignty 
of God. All do this who deny the doctrine of 
election or predestination. It is difficult to 
determine which extreme is the more objec- 
tionable and hurtful. The first extreme makes 
man a mere puppet. The latter degrades God, 
and robs him of some of the most glorious at- 
tributes of his nature." 

And now, young friends, I am sorry that our 
work, for a time at least, must be discontinued. 
I am truly thankful and glad that you have 
taken so much interest in considering these 
truths of our holy religion. As I anticipated, 
you have been apt scholars. Although it will 
not be my privilege to meet with you for some 
time, yet I hope you will not discontinue your 
study of these blessed doctrines. If, in the 
good providence of God, we are permitted to 
renew these studies, I hope you will manifest 
the same interest, and thus "grow in grace and 
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and 
for ever. Amen." 



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